Carol of the Bells
by Sothe Sage
Summary: A gift; a spark meant to liberate the world from the most prominent threat of the supernatural world. It's for this reason that Bella was split from her siblings and sent to Forks, where the supernatural world found her. This threat, it will come for her, but when? AU non-cannon, eventual JacobXBella pairing with a few others as well.
1. As the Valkyries Sang

Hey everyone!

I know that I haven't uploaded anything in a LONG while, but just know that another fanfic is in the works as we speak!

Now, after my horrible failure at NaNoWriMo last month, I decided to give myself another little challenge to help me get back into writing every day, after writing about once a week last month.

So this challenge that I'm giving myself is an advent calender with a new chapter to be written and posted every day.

I have been looking forward to this for a while, or at least getting back into Twilight Fanfiction even if the fandom is starting to die out.

Now, please sit back and enjoy the prelude to my advent adventure- Carol of the Bells

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the recognizable characters or plot points.

~*~X~*~

Prelude: As the Valkyries Sang

~*~X~*~

"Alright Whitney, push at the next contraction, okay?"

The woman gave a terse nod as she was breathing heavily, her husband's hand caught in a death grip within her own. This was the second time that this had happened, not that they weren't grateful that they had been blessed with another child, it was the child's fate that they feared.

"You can do it Hon." The man whispered in his wife's ear, wishing he could take all her pain away. His russet skin was in stark contrast to her alabaster tone, which was currently painted red with the stress of childbirth.

Another scream built in her throat.

"Push now Whitney!" The woman crouched between her widespread legs ordered, watching as the baby's head slipped out of its mother. To her, there was nothing as magical as childbirth, when a new life was brought into the world, and she felt honored every time she bore witness to the event. The strength of will a mother had to possess in order to not only birth the baby, but carry it for nine months and care to its every whim during the first few years of life was something she admired, and wished that she could experience for herself.

The scream died in the mother's mouth as the pain passed, her breathing once again heavy and labored, her knuckles white from the grip on her husbands hand.

"It's alright hun, now for the shoulders and the worst of it is over."

"The next one's coming Whitney, I need a big push from you this time, your husband's right- this one has to get the shoulders out, then we're home free."

The mother simply nodded, breathing so heavily and rapidly that she had given up on trying to get it back under control.

"Big push Whitney, big push!" the woman ordered, and with a great effort from the mother, a baby girl slid out onto the birthing blanket. "Congratulations, it's a beautiful baby girl." The woman told them as she began to clamp the umbilical cord. "Would you like to cut it Rick?"

"Sure." The father replied as he reluctantly released his wife's hand and took the scissors in his hand, cutting his baby girl from her connection with her mother.

"Now to deliver the placenta…" The woman muttered to herself "Holy cow!" she exclaimed "Another one's coming Whitney, he's crowning!"

"Rick, I swear that you are never going to put your dick in me ever again!" the mother screamed.

"Sandra, can you seal it off?" the woman requested of the nurse watching her first birthing with a red face.

"Yes Dannielle." The nurse replied as she took the newborn child from the woman's hand.

The woman shifted her gaze to the father, looking longingly after his child. "You'll have plenty of time to smother her later Rick. Your wife needs your hand back." She ordered, glancing back to her work. "You've dialated seven centimeters already Whitney, only a little longer before you can push."

"Rick I swear..!"

"I know honey, no more kids." The father whispered softly to his wife, squeezing her hand gently.

"Next time round I need you to push again Whitney!" Another contraction hit the mother "Now Whitney!"

The mother screamed again as she pushed.

"I need more Whitney, we need his nose out now!" the woman snapped as she noticed the head wasn't coming out as cleanly as with his sister, when a thought shot through her head, followed by incredible guilt. She inhaled a deep breath before she yelled "Stop pushing Whitney! Sandra, go get Jazz, we need to perform a Cezerian Section on this guy."

"No!" The mother screamed, panic quickly shooting through her body just as fast as the pain had.

"Whitney, I need you to calm down or you'll lose the baby for certain!"

"Come on babe, please calm down…" the father begged the woman as the nurse returned with another woman.

"Jazz, please calm her down."

The new woman nodded and locked gazes with the mother. The mother's heart rate went down as the panic seemed to flow from her body.

"Rick, please keep her attention away from me." The first woman said as she readied a scalpel and injected a syringe of morphine in the woman's arm.

More than an hour later, the woman signed off on two birth certificates. One for Isabella Marie Lahote, and the other for Renair Joseph Lahote.

And so sang the Valkyries, beauteous melodies to the sky of the last two of three who would end a reign of terror over the children the gods loved as their own. They sang of what the children would awaken to and of what they would become. Of how Lachesis would give them generous lengths in agreement with her sisters. Songs were sung that told the tales of a family divided, brought back together out of an ethereal love for each other. Those that floated through the air wove vast tales of the destinies the three children would face, of the troubadours they would become, of the spirits they would host.

Songs were sung of their fate and those who shared their fate before them. Of the carols that would be sung, of the bells that would be rung, of the wolves that would howl and of the notes that would be played; of the orchestra that would be formed and of the reward they would reap; and of the family they would keep.

~*~X~*~

I enjoy reading your comments almost as much as I enjoy writing for you, so please give me the pleasure of reading your feedback.


	2. And So the Valkyries Cried

It's December 2nd!

Megan39: I'm glad that this interests you! I hope that this chapter clears some stuff up.

FlameAngel15: Thanks!

et: If you don't like it, then don't just flame.

TeamSethLover: Thanks a bunch! I may or may not respond to the rest of your review in a pm, as it does contain some spoilerly stuff, but I can tell you that Bella is related to Paul, and that Whitney won't be having any more kids.

Thanks to these reviewers for your love. It made my day today to see that people actually enjoyed the first chapter. (I'll keep a running tally in addition to responding): Megan39, FlamsAngel15, TeamSethLover

This chapter has a timeskip, to where the newborns are 5, and the eldest is 7.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize from the books owned by Stephanie Meyer.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 1 And so the Valkyries Cried

~*~X~*~

~5 Years Later~

"Mommy!" A little girl cried as she ran through the house, a male of the same age following her through the house "Ren's trying to steal my dolly!"

"Bella, mea dulce, come here." A women of light complexion and dirtied fair hair cooed as she wrapped her arms around the child, whose complexion was slightly darker, whose brown hair matched her grandmother's and brown eyes matched her father's.

The small boy paused in the doorway, his green eyes that matched his mother's taking in the scene as he attempted a retreat, to only bump into the sturdy legs of his father. The boy's complexion was just a few shades lighter than his father's, and his dark brown almost black locks matched his father's.

"Ren, what did you do to your sister this time?" the man sighed, his dark brown eyes appraising his son warily as his almost black locks began to slide into his eyes, covering even further the rich red-brown skin of his forehead.

"I, uh…" The boy stuttered, panicked.

"He tried to take her doll." The woman stated, the girl in her arms as she walked toward the man, her simplistic white dress with dark green trim swishing with her movements.

"Why did you do it Ren? Dolls aren't for boys…" The man admonished, crouching down so that his large form wouldn't intimidate his son.

"She, I, uh, I dunno…"

"It doesn't matter. But you will tell us what happened later, no exceptions." The woman stated "We have to meet Danniele in a half hour."

"I'll get Glen." The man said as he went off in search of the boy with complexion and hair that matched his with eyes that matched his mothers'.

Within minutes they were walking down the worn cobblestone street, abandoned of people. The family of five were walking peacefully down the street when the father heard a sound from the rooftops.

"Whitney!" He called out as two figures dressed in dark clothing leaped from the rooftops.

"Mercutio…" The woman mumbled, as the two figures landed on what would appear to be a barrier.

"What is this sorcery?" One of the two asked aloud, running his fingers through his platinum blonde locks to straighten them once again.

"Nu situ Vladimir." The other said "We mustn't waste much more time here, else those Italians catch wind of us."

"Desigur." The blonde replied before the two vanished, running off in the time it took the family to blink.

"Thank goodness I got here in time." A brunette woman huffed as she caught her breath near the family.

"What is wrong Dannielle?" the woman asked the out-of breath brunette.

"I-I've seen a vision, Clotho granted me access to her knowledge of the thread for a fraction of a second- you must leave Romania immediately in addition to splitting."

"What do you mean?"

"The Italian coven has been alerted to your presence. Rick, you must take Ren to Canada, Whitney shall take Glen to Italy and I shall take Isabella to The United States. It is the only way to ensure that all three will survive."

"How will Glen and Whitney survive in Italy when that Italian coven is after us?" the man exclaimed, pulling his eldest son closer.

"As a troubadour, he will not awaken until he is reunited with his siblings. Until that happens you two will be able to remain out of the coven's sight."

"And what of Isabella? Who will protect her?"

"Myself, Jazz and Sandra shall watch over her from a distance. We cannot directly interfere with her until she awakens."

"When will we all meet again?" the male asked, pulling his sons closer to him.

"Twelve years is when they will meet again." The woman got a distant expression in her eyes before refocusing on reality. "We must depart soon, our scent will linger too long if you remain in Romania much longer."

"We need to pack…" the mother started, before the other woman interrupted.

"Sandra and Jazz have it covered already. Our flights depart in a few short hours. It'd be best if the children have mementos of each other before we depart."

~*~X~*~

And so the Valkyries cried, as the thread woven by Clotho had decreed that the chosen three would be split until they were to awaken. They would lose the closeness of kinship, and one would lose her family all together while another would be sent into the lion's den, while the last would live in icy seclusion. All would do so in order to escape the very terror they were born to bear witness to.

The Valkyries cries spread word of the loss of the three, and gave hope that there might be a future at the cost of little.

~*~X~*~

Please Review. It makes my day when I see an email in my inbox saying that I got a review.


	3. As the Valkyries Watched

It's December 3rd!

Sorry for all you in America that this is coming out a day late, I promise I'll try and update earlier.

TeamSethLover: Yep, three kids- Glen's 9 and Ren and Bella are 7 (In this chapter). I had trouble figuring out how to handle that gap as well, and it was your review that made me write this chapter. I think that I'm going to do multiple smaller time skips, showing brief moments of how they're dealing without each other. And don't worry, I'll go into greater detail once they're a little older and I can start going into 1st person. Oh yeah, say hello to mini Jake!

Guest: I hope this chapter answers your questions! And actually, the Romanian Coven was just a catylist for it all. As for the Italian Coven, guess who they are for yourself ;P

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39, FlamsAngel15, TeamSethLover (2x), Guest  
Your comments mean so much to me!

This chapter has a smaller timeskip, and only scratches the surface with Ren and Glen, but I think really shows a budding relationship between Bella and her new friend.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 3 As the Valkyries Watched

~*~X~*~

2 years later

Ever since the Dannielle, Jazz and Sandra had left her with those who were to be taking care of her until she was to be reunited with her siblings. Charlie and Renee had been ecstatic, Charlie having always wanted a little girl while Renee refused to bear him a child, going so far as to never get drunk around him for fear he would manipulate her in her drunken state to get what he wanted. Bella was incorporated into the Swan family nearly seamlessly, her only remaining grandmother forming an immediate bond with her, as well as the children of Charlie's friends from the nearby Native American reservation.

"Bewa, come bawck!" A small, russet skinned boy of about six years of age cried as Bella ran from him.

Bella couldn't even recall what had made her so upset with the boy as to make her run away from him. She could vaguely recall mud pies and the boy doing something with hers.

Bella wasn't watching where she was running, glancing over her shoulder every few strides to keep tabs on Jacob, resulting in her running into another girl of nine years as she was talking with a mirror image of herself. Both girls had features similar to the boy's, being that they were siblings, though separated by four years.

"Watch where you're going." The girl Bella had run into stated menacingly, shoving Bella back. As Bella stumbled backwards, she slipped in a patch of mud and fell backwards, landing on the ground with a 'splat' as mud splashed around her. Tears started to leak out of Bella's eyes- Renee had just bought her this dress and now it was all dirty.

"You deserved it." The other girl sneered, standing next to the first, looking down on the crying Bella.

Two small globs of mud flew over Bella's head, and one landed in the center of both of the girl's chests, the resulting brown spot marring the girl's pink and yellow shirts.

"Jacob!" the first of the two screamed, attracting the attention of the two women in the kitchen whom were chatting away while one cooked and the other did what the first told her, which currently involved peeling and cutting potatoes. They both sighed as the one at the stove set the wooden spoon in her hand down and covered the pot that she had been stirring with a cover. Before the one who had been cooking walked out the back door towards the four kids, all four of which were covered in mud, though three were covered involuntarily.

"What did you two do to Bella?!" The cooking woman demanded of the two similar girls, their facial features only slightly matching due to the children's youth. Beyond that, they both shared the same darkened skin tone, dark hair and eyes of their parents.

"We didn't do anything! Bella slipped then Jacob threw mud at us!" the one who didn't shove Bella stated, while the other was looking at her shoes like they were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Jacob…?" The naïve woman started, looking towards her son to see him sitting in the mud next to Bella, locked in a hug as Bella cried. She sighed as she glared at her daughters "Rachel, Rebecca, go to your room."

"But…"

"Yes mom." The one who shoved Bella said shamefully, interrupting her sister.

"Rachel, we didn't do anything bad!" the other whined as she followed her sister to the house.

"Yes we did Rebecca…" Rachel mumbled to herself as she dragged her feet on the way back to the house.

"What am I going to do with them?" the native woman asked aloud as she crouched next to her son and Bella, whom she loved just as much as her own children "Jacob, what happened?" she asked him as Bella's sobs started to die down, her breathing starting to even out as she leaned into Jacob more.

"I-I-I took part of Bewa's pie and she wan away from me and then into Rach and she pushed Bewa into the mud so I threw mud at them." Jacob said, the words rushing out of his mouth as tears started to build in his eyes too.

"Jacob…"

"I sowy!" he wailed as tears overflowed his eyes as well, his arms tightening around Bella as he cried.

"It's okay sweetie, it's all right…" she placated, knowing that it was the twins fault, yet again "Let's go inside and get you two changed." She said soothingly, taking Bella from Jacob's arms while Jacob followed her back to the house.

~*~X~*~

Ren wondered why he couldn't see his sister anymore, for the past two years he and his dad had been living in a really cold place. He didn't see his mother, or brother anymore, or Dannielle, Jazz and Sandra. He missed all of them terribly.

Him and his father spent a lot of time in the forests, and every time they went out, his father would make him walk the entire time, which he found to be unfair.

His father told him the stories of the tribe he belonged to- of the Quileute shapeshifters and of the mighty Thunderbird.

Ren really wanted to be a shapeshifter, defend those he loved from the Cold Ones and everything.

He loved those stories the most.

~*~X~*~

Glen and his mother both loved Venice, the songs that seemed to dance through the air, the many waterways and the rich culture of the city.

His mother had kept in touch secretly with both Dannielle and his father, knowing that more likely than not they would have to move away from the waterways of Venice closer to France.

Dannielle had another vision of the Italian coven searching Venice for them, and that a French coven would be their most likely of allies, that they would meet within the year that they moved.

Glen tried not to show it, but he too missed his younger siblings… well maybe not the stuff that always seemed to happen between Bella and Ren, but still.

Adjusting to the Venetian school had been hard, even though Romanian and Italian were similar, he knew that another of his mother's friends was using one of his 'superpowers' to help him understand the language so that he could understand his few friends when they slipped into their native tongue.

Not only did Glen miss his family, but he missed Romania. He loved the way everything looked, though he liked Venice also, he just had a foreboding feeling about Italy that he couldn't shake.

~*~X~*~

And so the Valkyries watched, the three living their lives apart. One raised by a family not her own and the others by one parent. Their fates already sewn by the Moirai. The Valkyries pitied their sadness, yet could not intervene, knowing that all would be resolved in time.

~*~X~*~

Reading my reviews are the best part of my day, they always brighten my mood whenever I see that someone enjoyed my story.


	4. As the Wolf Cried

It's so totally Dec 4!

...

Yeah, so sorry for missing TWO days of advent, I'll try and make it up to you with a possible three chapters today, if not then two today two tomorrow.

TeamSethLover: Haha, yeah. At least you have Cute little Jake, so... I actually wanted Glen to stay in Venice for a while, but I guess I kinda screwed myself over with that huh? Lol. Thanks for the review hon.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39, FlamsAngel15, TeamSethLover (3x), Guest  
Your comments mean so much to me!

For my own sanity, I'll start posting the children's ages now:  
Bella-10(just turned)  
Ren-10(just turned)  
Glen-11(almost 12)  
Jake-8(9 in a few months)  
Rachel-12  
Rebecca-12

Another timeskip, which I intend on holding to this age for a few chapters before another.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 3 As the Wolf Cried

~*~X~*~

~Two Years Later~

Bella and Jacob were outside, playing with Embry and Quil- two other kids Jacob's age that he had met at school and became friends with, though no one could be a better friend than Bella was.

Charlie and Billy were watching a Mariners game on the Black's TV, while Sarah was out shopping in Port Angeles and Renee was at a job interview. Rachel and Rebecca were both at the Clearwater's house doing homework, middle school was a hard transition for them.

Charlie's phone rang, and he rushed out of the house quickly, leaving all the kids to wonder what happened that would make Bella's dad run out of the house so fast.

"Where's your dad going?" Quil asked, looking after the speeding cruiser in fascination.

"He's not my daddy…" Bella mumbled, irritated. She hated when people called Charlie her dad- he wasn't.

"Bells?" Jake asked "Do you know where Charlie's going?"

"No…" Bella replied, smiling at Jake. He understood her so well- he knew that she didn't like Charlie being called her father and everything.

The group of four continued playing outside until Billy came outside and called the kids in, sending Quil and Embry back to their mothers.

They all sat around the kitchen table, eating a pizza Billy had ordered, when Charlie came in through the door, eyes puffy and red.

"Jacob, why don't you and Bella go to your room while I talk to your dad?" Charlie said, leaving no room for questions. Jacob looked to his father, who nodded for him to do what Charlie had told him.

Bella tailed Jake as they went into his room, Jacob sitting on his bed as Bella closed the door- Charlie was in one of his 'moods' and wouldn't want them hearing what they were saying.

"What do you want to do Bells?" Jake asked as Bella sat next to him on his messy bed.

"I dunno."

"Wanna draw?"

"Okay."

Jake stood up and went to his desk, opening one of the drawers and pulling out a few sheets of copy paper and a few crayons, happy that Bella had wanted to do something instead of just sitting together. Just sitting together led to kissing… yuck. He'd seen his parents follow that chain of events a lot.

Bella slid to the hardwood floor as Jake sank down to meet her, passing her half the paper he pulled from the drawer and two of the four crayons he had grabbed.

Both hunched over their own white rectangle, they stated drawing, Bella drawing a red-orange ocean while Jake drew a cornflower-colored tree.

"What do you think Charlie's talking to my dad about Bells?" Jake asked once he had finished his light blue tree.

"I dunno." Bella replied, thinking about her answer more deeply after the words left her mouth "But it must be sad- Charlie never cries."

"I never cry." Jake boasted, puffing his chest out, trying to impress Bella in that childish way.

Bella just glared at him "Yes you do Jake."

Jacob slumped over, as is he were a balloon whose air was just let out.

"Jacob!"

Jake's head popped up at his father calling his name, his eyes darting to Bella's before they stood up, leaving their abstract drawings behind, walking back to the kitchen together.

When the two walked into the kitchen, Billy's eyes were red and puffy too, which confused them both. What could have made both of the father figures I their lives cry?

"Come here Jake…" Billy said quietly, opening his arms for Jake to walk into.

"What happened dad?" Jake asked, wondering why his dad was hugging him so tight, feeling wetness on his shoulder.

"Y-your mother Jake…" Billy sobbed as Charlie crouched next to Bella.

"I have to go back to the station Bella, do some paperwork so Renee will pick you up soon, okay?"

Bella nodded before looking back at the father and son. She wished that she had that kind of relationship with her father. But she didn't, she could barely remember her real father's face, which made her scared. She could remember how much she loved him, but she couldn't picture him.

When Charlie left, Bella felt awkward in the kitchen, like she was intruding on some private moment. But as she walked into the living room, she heard Jake's cries join his father's. confused, she peeked her head back into the kitchen, seeing Jake's head tucked into his father's chest, before he peeked away, and meet her gaze.

Jake wiggled out of Billy's embrace, and ran over to her, engulfing her in a hug

"She's gone Bells…" he mumbled.

Confused, Bella slowly returned the hug.

"Who's gone?" Bella asked, confusion lacing her voice.

"Mommy's gone…" Jacob mumbled before heavy sobs shook his body.

Tears built in the corners of Bella's eyes- Sarah was like a mother to her as well, more of a mother to her than Renee ever would be, but still less than her real mom, whom she also missed terribly.

Sobs resonated throughout the kitchen as the three mourned the loss of a mother and wife.

~*~X~*~

When Renee walked into the Black house as the sun set, she was first met with the sight of Jacob and Bella locked in a tight embrace in the couch, before walking into the kitchen to find Sarah instead finsind a statuesque Billy instead.

"What happened, Where's Sarah?" she asked, confused as to where one of her best friends was.

"She's dead. Sarah's dead."

~*~X~*~

The best part of this whole fanfiction thing is knowing that someone enjoyed your story, so please review and tell me what you thought.


	5. While the Guardians Watched

Let's just pretend it's still the fifth mkay?

Shay205: I'm sorry it's so confusing, to tell you the truth I'm not used to writing in this style- I just started with it and find it a lot easier to write than first person for the early events of the story, which I'll hopefully be transitioning to in the next few chapters or so. If you have specific questions, feel free to PM me ;)

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39, FlamsAngel15, TeamSethLover (3x), Guest, Shay205  
Your comments mean so much to me!

For my own sanity as well as yours, I'm posting the children's ages:  
Bella-10(just turned)  
Ren-10(just turned)  
Glen-11(almost 12)  
Jake-8(9 in a few months)  
Rachel-12  
Rebecca-12  
Quil-8  
Embry-9(just turned)

I find this chapter quite boring, but an update on the other two is needed.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 4 While the Guardians Worried

~*~X~*~

Ren had been raised just as much in the forest as he was in the home he shared with his father.

The resentment and hate of the forest that had developed as a result of the constant nature walks and hikes had since worn off, and was now replaced with a fascination and almost obsession with the forest, one that made his father proud.

Dannielle's call worried him though. Ren didn't know about it, nor would he ever know, but Dannielle, his wife and him had been in contact over the past four years, helping the separated parents feel closer to their removed children, and though the pain of separation had been numb, it still stung. More so when either thought of Isabella, and how she could very well grow apart from them and not recognize them as her true parents, and though Dannielle has assured that that would never happen, it was still a fear at the back of both their minds.

The news that call carried was troubling though. One of two mother figures in his daughter's life had died in a car crash, leaving behind a husband who loved Isabella as his own, two daughters, both of whom hated Isabella with a passion, and a son whose bond with her was skin to the bond shared by identical twins, almost instinctual in nature.

Rick couldn't let his mind linger on his daughter though- no, he had his own son, and her twin brother to look after.

Ren certainly was a handful now that his resentment of the forest had died off, he was always climbing trees and the like, one day Rick found him on the roof, from his new found climbing abilities that were getting stronger every day.

Ren too missed his sister, mother and brother, though he distracted himself with sports. Currently he only played soccer and tennis, though he did swim for a little bit.

Dogs were also attracted to Ren like children are to candy.

It worried his father a little bit, knowing the legends of his native tribe, though he denied himself the thought instead opting to convince himself that his son just had an affinity for dogs, much like the one he had whenever his wife and him had encountered one in their travels before settling in Romania.

~*~X~*~

Glen wasn't happy about moving from Romania, and he wasn't happy about moving from Venice either.

He moved from one beautiful city to another, and once he really started to like Venice, they were moving again, though this time to the opposite side of the country. Glen couldn't understand why his mother wanted to move closer to France, but he didn't ask questions. He was just glad that they were moving to a city that was on the map- Turin, Italy.

Glen was of the age where his interests had started developing, and he was fascinated watching gymnastics on their computer, watching Olympic gymnastics to such an extent that his mother worried about him wanting to take lessons they couldn't afford, though he reassured her that he wanted no part of it.

Glen's education had gotten better, and he felt lie less of an outcast now that he had picked up some Italian from his Venetian friends, applying his knowledge of Romanian to accelerate the process.

His mother too had received a call from Dannielle about Isabella's main mother figure's death. Though distraught that her daughter wouldn't have a mother, and was being raised in a house with a brother whom she was in love with, fearing for the budding relationship between them.

She feared for what might happen between her daughter and her adoptive brother in the future.

~*~X~*~

Dannielle knew that Whitney didn't even wait for her to finish her sentences before drawing her own conclusions, knowing that the worried mother thought that Bella was living with the Blacks instead of the Swans.

Between her, Jazz and Sandra, Bella was under near constant surveillance, never left alone, though she never really was without company.

They only worried for her when she ventured into the forest, due to her developing clumsiness, but she was always with Jacob, and Quil and Embry generally tagged along as well, the boys knowing the forest like the back of their hands.

Dannielle was glad that Bella had so many friends around her age that spoke the same language as her, unlike Glen in his first few years in Italy, though she had seen that as well.

Danielle knew that there was still a few years before the siblings would be brought back together, and she could only hope that they would awaken as the thread of fate had shown her.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	6. When the Future Changed

Let's just pretend it's still the sixth mkay?

TeamSethLover: I don't plan on bringing in someone who can rise the dead, sorry. Also yeah, 2 in one day; about that... I was (and still am) behind in the advent that I'm going to be doubling up on chapters until I catch up. Also, to clarify, Whitney just perceived Jake and Bella's relationship to be romantic, as she is quick to draw a conclusion and long to correct the incorrect. I'm looking forward to the siblings to be brought back together too! 3

Guest: I'm glad that you're picking up on the little seeds I'm planting, and I promise that they'll have matured a little in the next chapter, which will involve a small timeskip and some 1stPOV... YAY! The next chapter may or may not reveal some insight into Glen's fascination as well.

Megan39: It's totally fine, I'll respond to everyone. I'm glad that you find that interesting.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (2x), FlameAngel15, TeamSethLover (5x), Guest (2x), Shay205  
Your comments mean so much to me!

For my own sanity as well as yours, I'm posting the children's ages:  
Bella-10(just turned)  
Ren-10(just turned)  
Glen-11(almost 12)  
Jake-8(9 in a few months)  
Rachel-12  
Rebecca-12  
Quil-8  
Embry-9(just turned)

This is more set-up. And sadness. If you have questions, please drop a review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 5 When the Future Changed

~*~X~*~

The Black household wasn't the same without Sarah.

In the three weeks following her untimely death, Jake had hardly smiled, and Rachel and Rebecca didn't bug Bella at all. Billy wasn't nearly as animated as he had been, the usual banter between him and Charlie when him and Bella visited gone, replaced by a sad silence.

Jake only ever allowed himself to break down in front of Bella, the only place where he let his emotions run freely after the burial.

Quil and Embry were there at almost every step of the way for Jacob, though whenever showed the same emotion around them as he did around just Bella. She was his constant pillar of strength throughout all the events that transpired. Sarah was just as much a mother to her as she was to Jake.

Renee could do everything a mother could and should do for their children, except cook, but she wasn't the caring, nurturing soul that Sarah had been.

What Charlie didn't tell Billy was that Sarah was found to be pregnant when her blood tests came back, nor did he tell the kids the real reason behind her untimely demise- the result of point two three blood alcohol level. It would have been much harder for Billy to get over her death given that she was killed in a drunk driving accident instead of a lapse in attention caused by her irregular hormones.

Rachel and Rebecca retreated so far into themselves that they put up a hardened shell that nobody could penetrate. The torment that they gave Bella stopped suddenly, as if they had all of a sudden lost the will to torment her; which was bittersweet in and in of itself- Bella enjoyed being able to hang out with Jake without the Twins' constant torment, but Rachel and Rebecca were as lively as stoic cement statues.

Jazz could have dulled the sorrow, and though Whitney urged her to ask her spirit for assistance, Dannielle refused to let her do so, claiming that it would disturb the flow of the string of fate, that the string Clotho had woven for them would unravel and reform into a destiny that none of them would have ever wanted, that the Gods themselves did not desire for their favorite children.

Sandra still had yet to awaken as a troubadour, but Dannielle claimed that her spirit would come to enter her body in good time.

Dannielle had seen Sandra's gifts firsthand, the Moirai had granted her that luxury, though she couldn't disclose that information to the others, the words couldn't leave her mouth.

She couldn't help but think that the work of Atropos, that she was the one that could cut her fate short, that she could control what everyone knew of their fate, that she gave feelings to those who required them, flexing minor control over their emotional state.

Four months after Sarah's death, a note was left in the Swan house. Renee's car was absent from the driveway, as was Renee's entire life savings and the majority of her worldly possessions.

Renee had fled; the pain had become too much for her.

That was another strike to Bella, the strike that finally pulled Jake out of his depression, causing him to comfort her as she had lost all three of her mothers and fell into a depression much deeper than his own.

Their roles reversed, Jacob became the pillar of strength that Bella relied upon, curing his own depression by helping with hers.

This however, did not happen with Charlie and Billy. Where Charlie fell into a depression, Billy remained the same; there was a difference between the two, however- Charlie filled his life with the monotony of his work while Billy remained static, confined to his house with two equally as depressed children and a boy who was his non-daughter's pillar of support who was slowly getting better.

As a result of an attempted suicide by Billy, the family was put into therapy.

Jake absolutely hated when they went to their therapy sessions- the woman who helped them creeped him out. As soon as they stepped into her office, his father and sisters were almost immediately put into a neutral emotion, one that he didn't like- his sisters were supposed to be tormenting him and his dad laughing with him, not emotionless statues or depressed people with an aura of sadness.

The therapist also seemed to be able to sense his unease, because every time they went in she had a lollipop for him. That was the best part of each visit.

The therapist was in actuality Jazz, whom went against what Dannielle claimed was supposed to happen to help the family. What shocked Dannielle was that by helping the family and by extension changing the future, Jazz had inadvertently made the future look much brighter for both Bella and Jacob.

Glimpsing into both Ren's and Glen's futures, Dannielle could see that they were very much on their way to becoming troubadours, though not soon. By Jazz's meddling with the Black family, she had saved not only the entire family's lives, but also changed the order in which the children would awaken as troubadours, with Glen awaking to his destiny within three years of the date.

Confident that this future was better for all, Dannielle didn't mention any of it to anyone else.

She had made the mistake of finding a loophole in Atropos' moratorium once, and she was lucky that it yielded desirable results. She couldn't be certain of that again.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	7. As the Troubadour Lay in Slumber

So, I gave up on the whole advent thing, and as a result the title's going to change. I honestly have no clue where this is going, so it may be subject to a few of these.

This was so going to be more of a holiday fic, but it just kinda took on a life of it's own... I hear that happens a lot...

Anyways, I have a few chapters written up right now, so I'll post fairly regularly, or at least for the next week or so.

TeamSethLover: I'm so glad :) As for what a troubadour is, you can look ot up in the dictionary; it'll give you a reference point as to what they are in this story, but it won't get you anywhere near what they are though... I'm still kinda working on the whole 'What is their destiny' thing, so I can't explain much about that- right now I'm focusing on getting them to 17/19 and through their childhood before I totally tear them apart *snicker* Also, so sorry for the long gap, all I had written of this chapter for the longest time was the first three paragraphs, and I couldn't get past that. Anyways, glad that you're enjoying it.

Shay205: Thanks! Hope you keep reading!

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (2x), FlameAngel15, TeamSethLover (6x), Guest (2x), Shay205 (2x)  
Your comments mean so much to me!

For my own sanity as well as yours, I'm posting the children's ages:  
Bella-13  
Ren-13  
Glen-15  
Jake-12  
Rachel-15  
Rebecca-15  
Quil-11  
Embry-12

If you have questions, please drop a review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 6

~*~X~*~

~Three Years Later~

~GlenPOV~

My mom and I were just leaving the Charles de Gualle airport in Paris.

I had been looking forward to this trip ever since mom told me we were going to be visiting some 'friends' in France, though she wouldn't tell me exactly where in France until we left from the Turin-Caselle airport earlier that day.

Over the past three years, I've settled into life in Turin, Italian coming easier to me now.

"Hurry up Glen, we're going to be late meeting my friends."

"What friends do you have that live here mom? I know that you and dad traveled a lot before you had me, but what people could you have met in France, let alone in Paris?"

"You don't know where your father and I have been. We generally liked to stick to the smaller cities, but I wanted to see some of the larger cities as well!"

"But…"

"Just come on Glen."

"Yes mom…"

I drug my feet as I pursued my mother, through the baggage claim retrieving our bags and leaving through the sliding glass doors. After loading out three bags into the back of a cab, the driver took us toward the hotel.

As I watched the city pass by, my mind wandered to the last three years. Two years ago I finally mustered up the courage to ask my mom for gymnastic lessons. Apparently I took to it like a natural, as I was at the top of the class right off the bat and maintained that standing for the past two years. In fact, this week was the first week that I've had off over the last two years.

Then just this last month I've gotten into parkour; jumping and flipping over things I see everyday is so much more fun than just doing routines on the floor.

At first, mom was really nervous about me jumping off of and doing flips off handrails, hell, I was nervous about it too when I first started, but as I did more and more it the funner it got. Eventually, mom stopped worrying altogether, but that worried me. It was like one day she was worrying about me breaking my head open, and after a single phone call, the next day she was all for me stretching my gymnastic limbs over concrete instead of gymnastic pads.

I wondered what could have possibly been said in that phone call, but hey, it made mom stop worrying about what I'm doing for fun so…

"We're here honey."

My mom snapped me out of my reverie, blinking rapidly as my mind caught up with its surroundings.

The hotel looked like it was built during the renaissance, marble columns and everything. I just hope that it wasn't actually built way back when…

"Come on Glen." Mom ordered as the back of the taxi was opened and a trolley was pulled out of sliding glass doors. Thank god, at least the lobby looks modern.

Mom wandered inside, leaving me to take our bags out of the taxi. Not that I minded at all, hell, to me they all felt light as a feather. I guess that's partly due to me filling out a lot from gymnastics. It surprised both me, my mother and my friends how much I and how quickly I bulked up after starting my lessons. Like, over a month I put on at least forty pounds of lean muscle. I swear I don't have an ounce of fat anywhere on my body.

As I wheeled the trolley into the lobby, my mother ushered me towards the elevator.

"We're in room four-twenty-seven." She told me as the elevator doors opened, and she pressed the button for the fourth floor. "Get some sleep honey, we're going out at Twilight. You're going to experience the City of Love at night."

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story. Also, reviews give me motivation to write more for you guys, so drop 'em on me if you want more!


	8. When the Troubadour Awakens

I'm sailing on my muse at the moment, so there'll probably be a huge stockpile of chapters, which means more consistent updates more often!

For now though, here's the next chapter~~

FlameAngel15: Thanks!

Megan39: It's partly due to his Quileute genes, but also because male gymnasts need the muscle mass to do routines on most of the apparatus. This organized chaos is my writing style, so I'm glad you like!

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (6x), Guest (2x), Shay205 (2x)  
Your comments mean so much to me!

For my own sanity as well as yours, I'm posting the children's ages:  
Bella-13  
Ren-13  
Glen-15  
Jake-12  
Rachel-15  
Rebecca-15  
Quil-11  
Embry-12

If you have questions, please drop a review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 7

~*~X~*~

When my eyes opened, the room was dark, and out ther window I could see a slight line of orange across the horizon. My mother was sitting on her bed, talking to someone on her cell phone.

"Yes Flore, we'll be there… Yes, please don't let them eat…"

"Mom?" I asked, worried for who my mother was talking to.

"He's up, I have to go… Yeah, see you soon, ciao."

"Mom, who was that?"

"That Glen, was one of the friends I was telling you about. Now come on, get dressed. As soon as the sky goes black we're leaving."

I started going through my suitcase, looking for something to wear.

"Wear something you'll be comfortable doing all your parkour stuff in Glen, trust me."

Wondering why my mother would actually want me to do that sort of stuff in Paris, I pulled out a pair of jeans and an athletic tee shirt as well as a sweater—what I mainly went out in everyday while we were in Turin.

My mom lead me to a small plaza off the beaten track once I was ready, the fountain looking eroded by years of perpetual water flow. Five figures were sitting on the lip of the fountain.

As my mom and I approached, all their heads snapped up, five sets o red eyes locked onto my mother and I.

"Mom…" I said shakily, like the scared five-year-old I felt like right now.

"It's okay honey." She murmured as the five people stood up. Each was dressed in what must have been designer clothes- they didn't look like anything my mom or I wore, they didn't even look like the really expensive clothes that were in the stores we went into. They looked like the clothes in the fashion shows that I sometimes caught glimpses of on TV. Heck, if anyone in Italy didn't know what the Milan Fashion Week was they deserved to be put to death.

Fear shot through me as one of the figures suddenly appeared next to me, her mouth right next to my ear. "Run."

I didn't think twice, taking off down one of the alleys as four of the five people started chasing me. I dicked behind a trashcan, jumping as I heard a loud thus above me. I looked up to see one of the people perched on the green metal dumpster above me.

"You'll have to do better than that." He stated with a sly grin.

I shot out from behind the dumpster as continued running down the alley, until a low wall appeared in front of me. Granted, the wall was still about two times my height, but that was low compared to the high buildings to either side of me.

"A dead end…" I moaned to myself, when a voice started talking in my head.

_Jump it._

"What? I can't jump that…"

_Trust me._

I don't know what made me trust the crazy voice in my head, but I felt a base instinct to trust it. As I got closer and closer to the wall, everything around me seemed to slow down. A small patch of light glowed on the ground about a foot from the wall, and the wall glowed in much the same manner about two feet from its base.

_Hop, step, vault._

When one of my feet stepped into the light on the ground, it was almost as if time paused all around me, the feeling continuing as I pushed upwards off the wall with my other foot and my right hand, reaching for the top of the wall with my left. My left hand caught the top of the wall, and time speed back up in a matter of seconds as I pulled myself up and over the wall.

"Since when could I do that?" I muttered to myself as I dropped on the other side of the wall, taking off at a sprint down the alley.

_Since you awakened._

What? Great, not I'm hearing that voice again.

_You've awakened, just as many before you, and many after you. You are destined for something great, I know it; and I will help you._

Who are you? I asked, as I saw an escape back to the main street, which was soon locked by one of my pursuers.

_Keep going. _The voice ordered _I am, a guardian spirit of sorts, though I am not above you, nor are you below me. We are equals, working together in harmony. Without one another, we are nothing. My abilities enhance your own while you host my spirit. This is what we call a troubadour, a symbiotic relationship between a host and a parasitic spirit, though I do not harm you- I enhance you._

So, you live within me and in exchange I'm like a free running god?

_Basically… Take to the rooftops._

I looked in front of me to see yet another one of my pursuers. A table with a faint glow that was haphazardly tossed into the alley caught my eye, beneath a window that also had the same glow about it.

Jumping onto the table, I used what remained of my momentum to step up the wall and grasp onto the stone lip of the window.

_Behind you._

~*~X~*~

~WhitneyPOV~

As soon as my baby was out of sight, I turned to the vampire beside me.

"You can guarantee that he's going to be safe, Flore?" I asked my friend, slightly concerned due to the fact that each vampire in the coven had maroon eyes.

"Whitney." Flore replied, glaring at me "I already told you, we're all under control. Granted, Aurel hasn't fed for a few days more than us, but he's always had the greatest resistance to human blood of all us. It's quite strange really."

"Well, he is the smallest of you all." I replied.

"And the youngest. Nineteen when he was turned eighty-two years ago."

"He really is young compared to the rest of you all!"

"Yep. He has a gift as well, in addition to both me and Rubea."

"Rubea was a troubadour?! What was she able to do?"

"Rubea could make an herbal remedy out of anything. According to her, she was even able to cure a case of polio with herbs. Now I know that you're going to ask about Aurel; he can make himself completely invisible to the senses, all except sight, where even there he can manipulate his appearance to look human—his eyes regain their natural green color and his skin gains more color. Except for the fact that his heart doesn't beat and he has to keep up the illusion of breathing, it's pretty convincing."

"And you can still make anything grow?"

"Yep, any plant still becomes green again after I touch it."

"How long you suppose until they lead him back here?"

"It all depends on how well he can control the spirit's enhancements, though from what I can hear… He's actually doing quite well."

"Well, that's… good." I paused for a moment "How am I going to explain all this to him? Especially that you are all vampires?"

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	9. As the Canines Play

I meant to upload this yesterday, but I didn't have time. So sorry everyone!

Guest: hanks; here ya go!

TeamSethLover: Yeah, going with the flow is probably best.  
I actually use the ages for my own reference as well, so yeah... It's a win-win! I had actually planned to introduce what Troubadours are in a different manner, but the words just flowed, what can I say? As for your question, no- you have it backwards. Vampires with 'gifts' were once troubadours whose enhancements remained and were possibly amplified once they were changed. Vampires with gifts are no longer troubadours, because the parasitic spirit requires a live host to survive, though the enhancements remain since there is no way to reverse them. Oh yeah, you forgot that Aurel has a 'gift' too~~

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (8x), Guest (3x), Shay205 (2x)  
Your comments mean so much to me!

For my own sanity as well as yours, I'm posting the children's ages:  
Bella-14  
Ren-14  
Glen-16  
Jake-13  
Rachel-16  
Rebecca-16  
Quil-12  
Embry-13

If you have questions, please drop a review.

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 8

~*~X~*~

~One Year Later~

~RenPOV~

High school. Every kid's worst nightmare, with all the intimidating things about it that were fed to us from an early age, Seniors in their last year, everyone bigger than you…

For one of the first times in my life, I felt nervous.

I've always been the brave one, leading my friends off the hiking trail and leading us back to safety after discovering a hidden gem in the forest.

It's strange to think that the thing that would give me a fright was High School.

From what I've understood, there are five main ways to survive High School.

First, be a jock. Intimidate everyone else into leacing you alone and attract the popular kids.

Second, be popular. The well-liked kids never had any problems.

Third, be a wall flower. Staying away from everything and keeping to yourself ensures that no trouble will come your way.

Fourth, be a loner. Pushing everyone else away also ensures that trouble doesn't come your way.

Lastly, blend in fast. Find a group and stick to it, be loyal to them until the end. If you stick with them, the they'll stick with you. All for one and one for all, right?

School starts next week, and I have everything I need, binders, pencils and paper.

Two years ago, my dad bought me a dog—a German Sheppard-Siberian Husky mix. At first, Dodger had serious separation issues; when I'd go to school he'd annoy the neighbors with his whining, and a few times, he'd even followed me to school, well, more like he climbed into my backpack and fell asleep, where I then didn't find him until halfway through the day, but that was when he was still a tiny pup. Since then, he's calmed down a bit, though he still has issues being away from me for more than the school day.

I couldn't wait to show my brother and sister my dog. Dad said that we'd be able to see each other again in three years. THREE YEARS!

"Ren, I'm surprised you haven't taken your run through the forest yet." When I didn't respond, my dad continued "Is something bugging you?"

I shook my head, the motion slowing as my dad's glare penetrated my skin. "Dad, how did you mazke it through high school?"

"Not this again…" he sighed, shaking his head slightly "You need to carve your own path through life. You can't do what I did, because for one, I went to school in America, and secondly because it was my path. No two paths through life are the same."

"But dad…"

"No buts Ren. Now go take Dodge our on your run."

"yes dad…" I sighed, standing from the oak chair "Dodge!" I called, and within seconds a mass of black and tan fur was barreling down the hallway, slipping on the linoleum floor of the kitchen before colliding with my legs. Brown eyes looked up at me expectantly, head tilted to the side, tail wagging. "Ready for a run?!" I asked my dog, kneeling in front of him and ruffling his fur. Dodger replied with an enthusiastic bark. "Then let's go!"

As soon as I opened the back door, Dodger shot towards the tree line, pausing just before plunging in, waiting for me.

A laugh escaped my lips as I looked at my dog. He had attachment issues when you were gone, yet mention exercise and he's anxious to get away from you.

I took off at a nice jog towards Dodge, as soon as I reached him, he took off into the forest.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story. Also, reviews give me motivation to write more for you guys, so drop 'em on me if you want more!


	10. What is To Come

Another update, cause I'm on a roll right now! And I'm really excited with all the alerts and favs this story has gotten today. You have no idea how happy all these alerts and faves mean to me...

Guest: Thanks!

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (8x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (2x)  
Your comments mean so much to me!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-14  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 9

~*~X~*~

~One Year Later~

~BellaPOV~

Oh. My. God. I can't believe that school starts TOMORROW and Jake isn't nervous about it! It's High school… H-I-G-H S-C-H-O-O-L. Where boys become men, and girls become women. Well, not exactly… But close!

"Bells, quit worrying. It'll be fine…"

"No it won't Jake! You're going to be at the VERY bottom of the food chain, just think of all the other kids! How will they treat you?"

"Don't worry Bells…"

"How can I not worry Jake!? You'll…"

"Calm down Bells, if anything I'll just be an outcast, nothing you need to worry about."

As usual, Jake struck the heart of my worry perfectly on the nose. I couldn't stand the thought of him being singled out. "But Jake, everyone loves you…"

"On the Rez, Bella. You'll be the only person who knows me there. To everyone else I'll just be the new Indian boy."

"Jake, that's not true! I can't believe that you'd be the outcast!" Jacob was such a wonderful person, but his words did have truth in them.

"Bells…" Jake started, his voice quieting "You've been in school with these people your whole life, not to mention you've already been in with your class for a year; I'm transferring in this year to get a better education. I won't know anybody and you'll know everybody."

"Jake…"

"Bells, just…"

"Hey, Bella, Jake; dinner's here!" Charlie called, snapping Jake and I out of our conversation. We went downstairs to see two pizza boxes sitting on the kitchen table "Figured you two kids would want some pizza for your sleep over."

I almost forgot, Jake's going to be spending a lot more time at mine and Charlie's house, because it's a shorter commute to school than from La Push.

Billy had also gotten worse over the years, but his therapist said that he probably hit rock bottom a year and a half ago, when he was drunk driving and got into a nasty accident. After that he started taking better care of himself, though he was confined to a wheelchair for life.

But, back to Jake. Jake was the only one in his class that was transferring to Forks High, and since Billy can't drive anymore, Charlie offered to let him move in with us during the school year. He'll go back home every weekend, but for all intents and purposes, until he gets a driver's license he'll be sleeping over five days a week.

"So, you two excited to start school tomorrow?" Charlie asked, breaking the awkward silence that had blanketed the table.

I shook my head no while Jake shrugged, taking another huge bite out of his slice of pizza.

"Well, you kids behave tonight- I have the night shift so I won't be back until I have to take you kids to school, okay?"

Jake and I nodded together. The rest of dinner was eaten in silence.

Charlie left not long after we finished eating, his parting words being "Get ready for bed. You two have a big day tomorrow."

Jake and I were currently standing in front of the bathroom mirror, in the cramped bathroom, brushing out teeth.

"So Bells, what do ya think tomorrow's going to be like?"

"I don't know Jake." I replied after I spat out the water in my mouth "I just hope that everyone'll love you."

"Love? You sure you want them to love me? Don't you want me all to yourself?"

I could feel a blush rise up my face at Jake's words. Not that I would admit it to anyone, but I actually kinda liked Jake as more than a friend.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	11. Filling the Last Four Years

Shay205: Glad you liked it; thanks!

TeamSethLover: No prob, I actually anticipated more confusion about it, and I had the explanation all prepared in advance, which is like RARE for me. Yeah, I like Dodge too- a mutt of my two favorite dog breeds, which both coincidentally have pointed ears like their undomesticated cousin... Hm... is there and correlation? Anyway, I'd have liked to spend more time developing Bella and Jake's relationship, but when I tried, the words wouldn't come to me. The living arrangements... Yeah, something I did on a whim because I forgot the 1-year age gap between Jake and Bella. So, this chapter has been edited more than a little bit and in all honesty needs to be rewritten, but that'll come later. I'm also loling so hard about your comment about Edward. The irony is just a little too much for me right now, but I'll stop there before I reveal any spoilers. Anyway, I'm glad that you enjoy this story and my writing. The fact that my little story brightens your day means so much to me...

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (10x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (3x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-14  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 10

~*~X~*~

~DanniellePOV~

Billy Black's life turned around the night of the crash. He was declared comatose for a week, and Jazz had to counsel Jacob, Rachel and Rebecca during his stay comatose.

Bella was, in all actuality, the best solution for Jacob while Jazz's emotional manipulation was the best for his sisters. Through what we've come to call the bleeding effect, Rachel and Rebecca's emotions had eventually begun to restabalize in the aftermath of their mother's death. This came as a shock to the already broken family.

A vision hit me like a freight train on the seventh day, the entire future that Jazz had created by meddling with the Black family vanishing after Billy Black flat-lined the following morning, the entire world crumbling as the entire family fell into a deep depression and were placed in foster homes.

It was then that I contacted Whitney, and asked her to connect me with Rubea, whom I knew could make an herbal remedy out of anything. Then, I also informed both the French Coven and Whitney about when and how Glen would awaken. Rubea was kind to the plight of the Black family, and walked me through how to make a slave to draw one out of a coma.

A few dabs of the aromatic poultice under the nose, and by mourning Billy Black was stirring.

The first thing he saw when he opened his eyes was the crying faces of his children, followed by Bella awkwardly standing by, not sure what to do; caught in one of the few moments where she relied on Charlie to tell her what to do.

After receiving the news that he was bound to a wheelchair for life, Billy fell into another depression, which Jazz again helped with, though this time she allowed hie children to be the driving cause behind him coming out.

The last years of Jacob's schooling on the reservation were difficult, with Jacob constantly requiring rides from friends, but when Billy insisted that Jacob attend Forks High School, everything got much harder.

Even though they had been affected by the bleeding effect, Rachel and Rebecca were unable to care for their father as Jacob had. As a result, another of the women on the reservation had to help him once Jacob moved in with the Swans for the school year.

Tiffany Call was a nice woman, and mother to one of Jacob's closest friends, Embry. As soon as word got out the Billy Black needed assisted living, Tiffany jumped on the opportunity, almost immediately volunteering her services free of charge.

It surprised the reservation that the outsider would jump so readily to aid their chief, and even more so that their chief allowed it.

~SandraPOV~

Watching Bella and Jake's relationship was sweet.

They started out as kids, playing together with the easy camaraderie that stemmed from their mutual hate of Jacob's sisters. Then, as they grew older, they grew closer still, their relationship now resembling that of loving brothers and sisters. And now, it was obvious to anyone who looked at the two that they loved each other. This wasn't some schoolyard crush either, they genuinely were in love with each other. Although, neither one could see it in the other- they buried their feelings deep whenever they were around each other.

It will be interesting to see their relationship develop as they go through High School.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	12. When the First Dance Came

Here we go!

Whoo, Bella and Ren's Sophomore year, Glen's Senior year and Jake's Freshmen year... So much is going to happen!

Also, for the purposes of this story, I'm under the assumption that the Canadian and Italian educational systems are similar to those of the US. I know that that may not actually be the case, but it is much easier to write when you don't have to look up information about two foreign education systems.

Lacysangels: I have no clue where I'm going, so that makes two of us! Glad you liked it~~

TeamSethLover: Yeah, scenes like this I actually wanted to take the time to write out in more detail, but I felt the need to push through the plot and not let it drag. This might become an outtake or something... I was planning on making it more emotional by using characters other than Dannielle, but oh well. As for Sandra, yep. and though I haven't developed her out much, you'll see that her troubadour ability fits her personality perfectly (She still hasn't awakened yet, but soon). That Edward comment... Yeah, you'll see why I found that so funny next chapter. I had just finished writing that before reading your comment, so yeah... I may make your day with new chapters, but you make MY day with your reviews. 3

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (11x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (3x), lacysangels  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-14  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 11

~*~X~*~

~2 months later~

~JakePOV~

Home coming is less than two weeks away, and I still haven't asked Bella out to homecoming. I really want to, but I'm just so nervous. What if she doesn't want to go with me? What if she doesn't like me the way I like her?

"Jake!"

"Huh?"

"Jake, you looked like you were in another world."

"I, er… Sorry Em."

"It's fine. So, what were you thinking so hard about?" Embry asked, his homework spread across our kitchen table.

"I… Um… Well Em…" I stuttered.

"You were thinking about Bella again, weren't you?"

"Uh… I… Um… Yes." I finally let out, hanging my head, unable to meet Em's gaze.

"Jake, homecoming's coming, why don't you just ask Bella out?"

"But what if she says no Em? What do I do then?"

"She won't say no Jake…"

"But what if she does Em?"

"Just do what you want Jake. But don't blame me if she goes with someone else."

Jealousy shot through me at the thought of another person being with Bells. I made the decision right then. I'd ask Bella as soon as she came to pick me up tomorrow.

"Where're you going?" Embry asked me when I stood up and started heading towards the front door.

"To buy flowers."

~*~X~*~

Embry, Quil and I were all sitting at our kitchen table, our homework spread out in front of us as we tried to work on it. Well, not so much me as Quil and Embry, with tried being the operative word.

I was nervous about Bella coming over today. It's not like any other weekend though, Bella always spends the day with me on Sunday, tutoring Quil, Embry and I.

With the tribal school being so outdated, it was a hard transition when I transferred to Forks High, and I needed a lot of help. I still do. I mean, I can pass math real easy, no doubt about that, heck, I've even begun tinkering under the hood of that old truck in the garage every once in a while, Embry and Quil usually joining me, but English and History were another story all together. If this was Freshman history and English, then I didn't even want to see Sophomore English or History.

As for Quil and Embry… Em did better in History and English than both Quil and I combined, which wasn't saying much since without Bella's help we'd both have 'F's. However, they were both also good at math, so we helped Bells out, because even though last year she got an 'A' in Math, she stayed after school every single day to get help, greatly reducing the amount of time she had to see little ole me.

I was literally almost bouncing up and down in my chair as I heard the chief's cruiser pull up outside, not mistaking the crunch of the gravel for anything else, nor the sound of the gravel as the sound of footsteps followed by the sound of someone almost falling on the stone.

I smiled wide as I ran to the door, throwing it open to see Bells almost trip again. She picked herself up as soon as she noticed that I was watching, and walked dignified the rest of the way, which almost prevented her from tripping, until she tripped on the door jam and fell right into my outstretched arms.

"Smartass…" she mumbled, pushing herself out of my arms and brushing herself off, stalking into the kitchen to join Quil and Embry.

"Billy and I are going fishing Bella, we'll be back in a few hours." Charlie called from the door, where he had retrieved my dad.

"Behave kids. Don't set the house on fire and no parties!" dad called as Charlie pushed him out the door.

Finally, we were alone in the house- both Rachel and Rebecca were out on dates with their boyfriends.

Once the sound of the cruise faded into the distance, I gently took Bella's hand into my own "Walk with me?" I asked softly.

"Sure Jake, what is it?" she asked as we walked out the back door, where I had hidden the flowers yesterday to protect them from my sisters. I spent almost every penny I owned on those flowers, and I wasn't going to let Rachel and Rebecca ruin them. Well, maybe not every penny, but at least every penny I could find in my room.

I guided Bells to be a little ways in front of me, when I released her hand and quickly pulled the flowers out of their hiding spot, holding them awkwardly in my hands as Bella turned around.

"Jake, why…" she trailed off as she saw me holding the colored carnations in my hands.

"B-Bells, w-will you go t-to h-homecoming with me?" I asked, my stutter making me sound pathetic, even to my own ears.

"Of course Jake." she replied as I handed her the small bundle of flowers, which she held in her right hand as she hugged me, taking me by surprise. My arms hesitantly wrapped around her, returning her embrace "What took you so long Jake?" she asked so quietly, that I doubted she even said anything, so I replied just as quietly.

"I don't know."

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	13. When Jealousy Prevails

I meant to post this yesterday, but I ran out of time. Sorry...

Shay205: Yep, sure looks that way. Thanks for the review.

TeamSethLover: Yes, fear this chapter! lol. Yeah, unlike the last story I wrote, I want to focus more on developing more of the wolfpack, and not focusing solely on Jake, Bella and the OCs. Sandra won't get any more screentime for quite a while though, so yeah... Thanks for the review~~

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (12x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (4x), lacysangels  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 12

~*~X~*~

~A few months later~

~JakePOV~

Last month, these five new kids transferred in as Sophomores. They all have these weird gold eyes, and they're all really pale. Like, paler than most of the population in Forks High.

Anyway, they mainly keep to themselves.

Tolo was coming up at the end of the month, and I've been waiting for Bells to ask me. When I asked her about it a few weeks ago, she told me not to worry about it, but I'm starting to get anxious.

"Hey Jake." Some blonde who was in a few of my classes greeted as I got my food at lunch.

"Hi April." I replied. April was one of those 'Always gets what she wants' types, and she stopps at no length to get it.

"So, you want to go to Tolo with me?"

That shocked me. Why would she want to go with me, the person who didn't belong? But just as soon as the thought to accept passed through my head, it was replaced by what Bella would think, and if she was going to ask me.

"April, I'm sorry but…"

"You're holding out for Bella, right?" I nodded "Well look over there." She said, pointing towards Bells, who was talking with Edward Cullen, one of the new transfer students.

"What's she talking to Edward for?" I asked, wondering if they were partners for a project or something.

"I heard through the grapevine that she's asking him to Tolo, Jake."

I couldn't believe what I just heard. Bells was brushing me off for some paleface who only moved here a month ago. She was pushing me aside, me who she's known virtually her entire life for someone that she's known for a month tops.

"Yes."

"What was that?"

"I'll go with you."

~*~X~*~

~BellaPOV~

Jake was acting really strange on the ride home, he wouldn't talk to me, or make eye contact.

He didn't actually say anything until we got home and Charlie had left for his evening shift.

"You said I didn't have to worry."

"What are you talking about Jake?" I asked, confused by what he was saying.

"I asked you about Tolo and you said I didn't have anything to worry about, that you were going to ask me."

"Yeah Jake, what are you so worried about?"

"I saw you talking to Edward Cullen today during lunch."

"So? We were talking about our English assignment. By the way, how's your paper coming…"

"Don't change the subject! I heard that you asked Edward to Tolo."

"What?! Don't be ridiculous Jake, I'd never ask Edwar…"

"I'm going with April."

"What!?" shock coursed through me as Jake told me that, that he hadn't even waited for me to ask him, he just took the first offer that came to him.

"I am going to Tolo with April." He said slower and clearer.

"But Jake…"

"Don't 'but Jake' me Bella. Have a good time with your boyfriend." I stood in the middle of the living room, in shock as Jake stomped down the halls. Now only is Jake going to Tolo with someone else, but he just assumed that I was with someone else based off one conversation.

"Two can play this game Jacob Black…"

~*~X~*~

Edward and I were sitting in two chairs on the edge of the dance floor, watching all the writhing bodies in front of us.

At the end of the rows of chairs sat Jacob Black, alone. Edward and I arriaved here just after Jake and April. She stayed with him for one dance before ditching him for one of the football players. Ever since then, he's been either standing by the snack table or sitting by himself.

"Bella, are you all right? Are you too tired? Do you need anything?" Edward asked for like the sixth time in ten minutes.

"I'm fine Edward. Why don't you go dance with someone or something?"

"No Isabella, I couldn't. You're my date. Tonight I only have eyes for you."

I cringed at Edward's use of my full name as I glanced over Edward's shoulder at Jacob, sitting lonely and all by himself.

"On second though Edward, maybe I could use some punch."

"Anything Isabella." He replied as he got up and dove into the crowd, making his was toward the snack table.

Discreetly, I slip over a chair, into the chair that Edward had occupied before.

Then I slid over another, and another until I was in the chair next to Jake.

"So, where's your date?" I asked, knowing that it was a low blow.

"She ditched me after one dance…" Jake replied, his head hanging down.

"It's okay Jake…"

"No it's not! You're with Edward, how can anything be all right?" he moaned, covering his eyes with his hands.

"Jake, Edward was my second choice. You were, and always have been my first."

"R-really?" Jake asked, lifting his head up and turning it towards me, his eyes full of hope.

"Yeah." I nodded "I admit that asking Edward here was all for revenge, but I can't stand him anymore…"

"Dance with me…"

"Isabella? What are you doing talking to _him_? His date left him. Now come on, let's dance." Edward said as he grabbed my hand and drug me away from Jake.

I glanced over my shoulder to see him reaching after me, standing up. It looked really cute, the expression on his face was that of a rejected puppy. I gave him a sad smile and mouthed the word '_later_' to him before I was swallowed by the crowd.

~*~X~*~

~DanniellePOV~

I saw this whole debacle weeks ago, the Fates had warned me of what could happen, but didn't.

I was soon struck by two visions, back to back.

The first, which took me by surprise was that of a dark red-brown wolf attacking a black bear with what looked like a German Sheppard dog.

The second, which hit like a freight train, so hard that I literally almost fell over, was that of an airport, seven standing off against many as two figures ran to board a departing plane. The screams of many people accompanied the vision as it faded away.

As soon as my vision cleared, I called the two people who needed to know what to do.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	14. When the Wolf Awakens

Shay205: Here ya go!

TeamSethLover: Oh yes. Anyways, Edward will be back in full force in a few chapters, for now, let's see what's happening with Ren! Whoo~~ But still, Edward... There'll be a definite theme with Edward throughout at least his main entrance, but I don't know, it may extend beyond that as well. And yes, 'five sophomores' was a pretty big hint as to who they were even before I mentioned names. Yeah, Dannielle's visions are half for me to remember what was going to happen, and half for suspense... It's a win-win :D Now you can see why I was loling so hard though right? I had just finished this chapter when you made that comment, so yeah... Anyways, thanks for the review~~

DelSan 13: This soon enough for you? lol. Thanks for the review.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (13x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (5x), lacysangels, DelSan 13  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 13

~*~X~*~

~RenPOV~

"Ren, don't go too far away from the paths!" Dad called after me as I walked out the back door, Dodge prancing about me feet as we walked outside.

"Yeah, yeah. I know!" I shouted back, shutting the back door as I jogged to the edge of the forest.

Dad used to encourage me to stray from the paths, blaze my own trail through the forest, get to know every tree like the back of my hand. But about a month ago, he got all super protective on me; telling me to stick to the paths and always going out with others. The later was never listened to- I still took Dodge out on his walks just me and him. He never liked being on a leash, instead preferring to roam freely. Dodge always stayed close to me, though his clinggyness has decreased by quite a bit, he will never stray far from my side for long.

When dad started trying to keep me out of the forest, I didn't listen. They only way he'd keep me out of the forest was by putting me in handcuffs and tying me up.

I shook my head at the thought of my dad trying to tie me up. Sure he was bigger and stronger than me, but I could evade his grasp with ease.

I had a bad feeling about today, like something really bad was going to happen today.

Shaking off the feeling, I looked down at Dodge as we stuck to the path. Dodge must've been sensing my nervousness today, because he stuck quick to my side, not straying like he usually did.

The moss covered trees looked the same as always, the dark bark covered in a coat of moss. But something seemed different about the forest today, I just couldn't put my finger on what.

My spine went rigid at the sound of a bear's roar that sounded much too close for comfort. I froze, my limbs stiffening at the sound of the roar.

Dodge was whimpering, punning frantically on my pantleg.

I couldn't move. My feet felt like they were made of lead. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't move a muscle. I was rooted to the spot.

A moving brown shape a distance in front of me caught my eye.

I started to tremble, from fear or something else I do not know. I began to feel hot as the shape got closer and closer, and larger and larger. The heat started to lick at my spine as my trembling got increasingly violent.

Dodge started tugging at my pantleg harder, his whimpering turning to whining as he jerked his head in an attempt to get me to move.

Despite the fact that my body was shaking violently, I couldn't move a muscle, as if I had lost control of my own body.

When the shape broke through the trees, a massive brown bear, pain ripped through my body as I fell forward, my hands grasping at my head as an insanely intense headache shot through my head like a freight train.

A scream ripped through my throat as the pain spread rapidly throughout my entire body.

Just as quickly as the pain had come on, the pain subsided.

When I opened my eyes again, everything was crystal clear, each strand of moss to every knot on every tree.

Also, I was standing face to face with a brown bear, and I could smell fear coming from Dodge.

I didn't think, I just leapt, sinking my teeth into the bear's neck while it was frozen. The coppery taste of blood invaded my mouth almost immediately.

The bear groaned from underneath me as I tightened my grip on its neck, until the body went limp.

It wasn't until I let the neck drop from my jaw that I realized that I was standing on all fours. I looked down to see two huge black paws.

I yelped in surprise.

I fucking _yelped_.

My mind was on overdrive, wondering how the hell I could have paws or if this was all just a bad dream or something, when I heard a voice that I'd never heard before coming from behind me.

_"What did you do with Dad?"_ The voice was filled with fear, and I could quite literally almost feel the scared vibrations of the person, as well as the fear that they were radiating.

I could smell emotions. Great.

"Who?" I tried to say, only to have it come out as a bark.

_"My Dad…"_ the voice trembled.

I turned my body around, catching a brief glimpse of my pelt, a rich red-brown color, before I scanned the immediate area for anybody.

My eyes fell on my dog, trembling with his backside pressed tightly against a tree.

"Dodge?" I asked hesitantly. If the thought going through my head was true, then I know I must be gong crazy.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	15. Nature's Family

DelSan 13: Uh, by awaken, I mean get their abilities as a troubadour?

TeamSethLover: Yep, Ren is now all wolfed out. Glad you're lovin these characters as much as I am writing them~~

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (3x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (14x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (5x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (2x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 14

~*~X~*~

_"H-how do you know m-my name?"_ The voice replied. My thought was confirmed, as Dodge's mouth opened with the words.

Since when could I understand what my dog was saying?! Oh right, since I turned into a fucking monster.

"I… I gave you that name." I hesitantly replied to my dog's question. If I ever told anyone that I had a conversation with my dog, I'd be shipped off to an asylum for sure.

_"Y-you g-g-gave me…"_ I could almost see the cogs turning inside Dodge's mind as he processed what I told him _"But that means… Dad!?"_

I nodded in response. Or, at least I think that it looked like a nod. I barely had time to spare a thought to what my 'nod' looked like, as Dodge rushed towards me, and tackled me. Even though I'm pretty sure that I'm at least five times his size, I went down easy. What can I say? I'm not used to being on all fours.

Dodge purred as he rubbed his head against the underside of mine, cuddling with me _"I love you Dad."_

"Love you too Dodge, now can you please get off me?"

_"Why?"_

"We need to go home."

_"Home's wherever you are."_

I internally awed at Dodge's love and devotion towards me. I always knew he was fond of me, but now that his actions were accompanied by words, they took on a whole new meaning.

"Dodge."

_"Yes Dad…"_ he mumbled, his ears pressed to his head and his tail dropping.

I stumbled to my feet… paws, much to the amusement of my dog.

"Don't laugh. You were just like that when you were a puppy."

_"I…"_ Dodge started, before hanging his head in shame _"I'm sorry Dad…"_

"Don't be." I said, pausing a brief moment before licking the top of Dodge's head "I must ook pretty funny, this huge beast that can barely stand up."

_"Don't call yourself a beast Dad! You're just like me!"_

I blinked twice in response to Dodge's statement. I looked over my shoulder as best I could, and down my back. My coat was longer and shaggier than Dodge's, and so was my tail… Wait. Tail. I have a fucking tail. I'm a dog. A freaking dog. No. I don't believe it.

"Dodge, you remember that pool we found the other day?"

_"Kinda, why?"_

"I uh, wanna look at myself."

_"Okay." _Was all that Dodge replied as he trotted off into the forest.

I followed, slowly at first, getting used to walking on all fours before gradually speeding up.

The sights and smells amazed me, I could clearly see each and every small detail around me, the colors were all so bright and vivid now. I could hear the leaves rustling as the local wildlife brushed past the foliage. The fresh scents of the forest that were once almost unnoticeable to me were now as clear as the smell of something good baking wafting through a house.

When we arrived at the small pond, I slowly padded to the water's edge, scared to see what my reflection would be.

Come on Ren, you can do this.

I slowly peered down into the calm water, and a wolf's face peered back at me. I opened my mouth and so did the reflection. I slid my tongue out of my mouth and so did the reflection.

This had to be a dream.

A thought flew through my mind, what if I dunked my head in the water? Would I wake up then? Without thinking, I plunged my had into the shallow water, hitting my head on the bottom of the pool and coming to in the same place, next to the same pool, in the same body.

I was a wolf. Probably for life.

"Come on Dodge." I said as I slowly stalked back towards home.

We walked much slower than we ran to the pool, giving me time to think. What would dad say when he saw me? Would he call animal control? Would he shoot me? What would I eat? Where would I sleep?

Even walking, the hike seemed to take too short a time.

"Dodge, can you go get dad's attention?"

_"Sure thing Dad."_ Dodge replied, prancing over to the back door and pawing at the wood.

Dad answered the door after a few minutes, he must've sensed something was wrong when I didn't open the door myself.

"Hey Dodge." Dad said, kneeling to ruffle Dodge's fur while scanning the yard for me "Where's Ren?"

Dodge whined, gently gripping dad's pantleg in his teeth and gently jerkig his head towards where I was hidden in the trees before walking towards me, stoppong halfway across the yard to look back at my dad.

"You want me to follow you?"

Dodge whined again and continued towards me.

"Thank you." I said to Dodge when he returned to my side.

"Dodge!" Dad called once he reached the treeline, having lost Dodge as soon as he went into the forest.

I whined, grabbing Dad's attension.

His head snapped towards me, and he started in my direction.

"Dodge!"

My dad stopped in his tracks as soon as he saw me, his eyes widening.

He then surprised me by walking towards me, throwing his arms around my neck as he hugged me and said "Ren, I'm so sorry."

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	16. Explaining the Wolf

It's about time I posted this.

Now, I'm not entirely happy with how this chapter turned out, so it may get rewritten.

shay205: Thanks.

megan39: Dodge is my way of having a little/big brother relationship, which I love to read and write. Yep, Rick has some major explaining...

psychovampirefreak: Thanks!

DelSan 13: I'm glad you think so. Thanks for the review.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (4x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (14x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (6x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (3x), psycovampirefreak  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 15

~*~X~*~

~RickPOV~

Once I laid my eyes on the red-brown wolf with black socks and streaks, I knew immediately that it was Ren. Not just because he was five times the size of a normal wolf, but because he had my son's green eyes.

His eyes weren't filled with the happiness that normally filled Ren's eyes, instead they were filled with fear, worry, loneliness and confusion. I knew what Ren was most likely thinking, of what my reaction would be to him being a giant wolf.

Truth be told, I'd be more shocked if Dannielle hadn't called me last week to tell me Ren was going to phase whine getting attacked by a bear.

I knew what would alleviate Ren's fears though, and as I hugged my son and youngest child, he stiffened for a second before relaxing and resting his muzzle on my shoulder.

I then shifted my right hand to rub behind the pointed ears atop my son's head. A low rumbling similar to a purr sounded in his throat, and I knew that at least for now, Ren was happy again.

~RenPOV~

When dad rubbed behind my ears, it sent the best feeling I've ever had shooting through my body. A deep purr sounded I my chest, and escaped before I had a chance to even attempt to cut it off.

Dad pulled away after a few more minutes, and dad beckoned me to lie down, and he sat down next to me. I shifted my head do that it was resting on his lap, and he continued running his fingers through my fur as he spoke.

"You remember all those legends I told you don't you Ren? All the legends of my native tribe?"

I nodded slightly, my eyes closed in bliss.

"You've probably guessed by now, but they're true."

"What?!" was my first reaction, only after the surprised yelp escaping my mouth did I realize that Dad couldn't possibly understand me.

_"What's what dad?" _Dodge asked confused, trotting next to me and looking up at me, his head cocked to the side.

"Nothing Dodge." I replied, returning Dodge's gaze.

_"Are you sure?"_

"Yep."

_"Okay."_

~RickPOV~

I was amazed at the exchange between my son and his dog. Even though it just sounded like a series of whines and barks to me, it seemed like they were having a genuine conversation.

Then it came back to me- Dannielle didn't actually know what Ren's gift was, all she was able to see was him and his dog interacting with each other as if they were father and son. That must be Ren's ability- the ability to communicate with animals. It is probably limited to canines only though, but we can't be certain.

"Hey Ren?"

Ren turned his massive furry head to look at me.

"Were you just talking to Dodge?"

He looked hesitant to respond, before returning my question with a slight nod.

"Ren, there are many other things that I need to tell you, but for now, let's try and get you back in your human skin, shall we?"

Ren nodded his head viciously, his whole body just about shaking with his head.

I laughed. Ren had no clue just how ridiculous he looked.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	17. Mending Relationships and Building Walls

So, for timeline purposes, Tolo was on a Saturday, and Bella didn't Tutor Jake, Embry and Quil that Sunday. Ren shifted for the first time that Sunday, and this chapter takes place the following Monday when Bella and Jake are back in school.

Oh yeah, as for the 'punishment' in this chapter, Let's just say I tend to go a little overboard on some things...

Shay205: Thanks!

DelSan 13: Not exactly, but Ren's ability will be explained in more detail as they experiment for themselves (They're totally not going to the zoo...) Anyway, Glen's ability was already kinda explained, but if you need more detail I'll throw in an actual explanation of his gift in a few chapters when we get back to him. As for Bella, well... She hasn't awakened yet and I'm still bouncing between a few different ideas.

kouga's older woman: I remember seeing you from when I was on my Inuyasha fix, though it was just in reviews, but still... Anyways, I'm glad that you like my humble story so much. Here's the next chapter!

TeamSethLover: Yeah, I always imagined their first phases to resemble newborn puppies, only not quite so blind and slightly more destructive. Dodge, yeah, I love him too. I enjoy developing familial bonds in characters, and with a family divided, Dodge and Ren's relationship is really what spurs me on at the moment. Also since Ren's the youngest, and I love younger/older sibling relationships the best. Sigh. I suppose since I'm an only child I'll tend to glorify that sort of thing, but I digress. Rick was expecting Ren's phase however, the reason why he tried to keep Ren out of the woods, and what Dannielle told him way back when... anyways, here's the next chapter! Also, I'm surprised no one's seen a pattern in my updating yet -_-

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (4x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (16x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (7x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (4x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 16

~*~X~*~

~BellaPOV~

"What did you see in him Bells?" Jake asked me as we paused at my locker to get our books for our next class.

"I, well he actually that he wanted to go to Tolo with me before we were assigned to work on that project together, and I told him that I'd go with him if you didn't ask me… So, why did you go with April?"

"I just… Well I saw you and Edward hanging out with each other at lunch, and April told me that she heard you were going out with him, and she had just asked, so I agreed. I was… er… kind of… jealous…"

"It's okay Jake, I only went with Edward to make you lealous. But, did you even wonder how April would have found out that Edward and I were dating? She's not in any of the sophomore circles."

"Uh…"

"Jake!" I sighed, smacking him in the arm as I closed my locker.

"Ow…"Jake mumbled, as frantic footsteps approached from behind me.

"Bella love, are you alright? The mutt didn't hurt you, did he?" The frantic voice of Edward Cullen asked as he forcibly turned me around, looking me up and down as his firm, freezing grip on my arms kept me from moving.

"Edward, let go of me!" I said, trying to escape his all too tight grip.

"No love, the mutt is still here."

"Jacob!"

In less than a second, Jake tore Edward away from me, and was standing in front of me protectively. I noticed that Jake's hands were vibrating slightly.

"Edward, how many times do I have to tell you, Tolo was a one time thing."

"But it could be so much more, my love…"

"Will you stop calling me 'your love'? We aren't going out!"

"But I can give you so much more than that mutt…"

"Why do you keep on calling Jake a mutt?! Is it because he's Quileute? If you see him as a mutt than what am I? I'm part Native American too!"

"My sweetest Isabella I didn't mean it like that…"

"Shut up Cullen!" Jake snarled, taking a menacing step towards Edward. "Bella doesn't want to be with you, so if you know what's good for you then you'll back the hell off." Jake's fists were shaking much quicker, almost bluring.

"I won't give up until she's mine." Edward snarled, causing Jake to… growl?

I didn't know what was happening, but I knew that I needed to get Jake out of there,

"Come on Jake, let's go." I said as I rested my hands on one of his arms, the shaking immediately stopping.

As I drug Jake out and away from the circle that had formed around us, the final look Jake sent Edward over his shoulder did not escape my notice.

We continued walking, even though the bell had already rung for fifth period, walking straight into the office.

"Hello dears, what can we do for you?" the secretary asked Jake and I, to which I rolled up the sleeves on the shirt I was wearing to reveal two bruised handprints marring my arms. "Oh my God, who did that to you Isabella? Was it Mr. Black here?"

Jacob looked horrified at the accusation, while I shook my head. "E-Edward…"

"Master Cullen?!"

I nodded my reply.

The secretary pressed a few buttons on her phone, before speaking "Hello, Lisa? Yes, this is Marge. Isabella Swan and Jacob Black are here, and it appears that Edward Cullen has injured Isabella… No no no, nothing serious, just some bruises.. Yes, I'll get right on it." She put down the phone before motioning to the door on the other side of the office "Mrs. Grieble will see you now."

As Jake and I walked across the office, the voice over the intercom sounded "Edward Cullen, report to the office immediately."

~*~X~*~

Jake, Edward and I were all sitting down in Mrs. Grieble's office, her expression grim.

"Mister Cullen, you do realize that you have sexually assaulted a fellow student, of the opposite gender, as well as verbally assaulted an underclassmen."

"I do."

"Do you realize the consequences of your actions?"

"I do not."

"You have violated three of our school's rules that were in the code of conduct that you were required to sign upon your transfer in order to attend this institution. In addition, charges can be pursued against you for your assault, which was might I add, caught on tape. All of your parents have been notified, and Edward, you have been suspended for forty five days, and in addition your participation in all school sponsored activities has been suspended for ninety days, any of which were not served this year will carry over to next."

"But that's so harsh…" I spoke, before being quieted by a glare from Mrs. Grieble.

"It may seem that way, but Mister Cullen blatantly broke the school's code of conduct: Section 6 clause C, sexual assault of another student, clause D assault of a student of the opposite gender and Section 17 clause E, using derogatory language against our Quileute transfer students. Do you have anything to say for yourself Mister Cullen."

Edward's hands were in his lap while he was staring at the worn carpet floor,

"Then all is settled. Mister Cullen, your parents have been called to pick you us from school immediately, Isabella and Jacob, please return to class."

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	18. A Guardian Awakens

Sorry this took so long, my muse left and this was the last buffer chapter I had, so I had to stretch it out. Don't worry though, I have another small buffer built up. Expect the next chapter on Tuesday, Wednesday at the latest.

Shay205: lol, yeah, I always enjoy it when Bella dislikes Ed.

kouga's older woman: Hopefully that issue gets sorted... Glad you liked it

DelSan 13: Yeah, Bella's getting wary of Edward... Anyway, I can't answer your questions without giving away major spoilers, so if you still want them answered tell me and I'll shoot you a PM. Did you figure out Glen's gift yet? If not, then I'll explain it to ya?

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (4x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (16x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (8x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (5x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (2x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 17

~*~X~*~

~DanniellePOV~

In the aftermath of the incident at school, Charlie sued the Cullen family for Edward's assault against Bella, and Edward now has a permanent mar on his record, one that is so absolute that nothing can get it off, Charlie made sure of it.

Bella's bruises healed nicely, and now you can hardly tell that they were there at all.

Rick has also contacted me with news on Ren's… condition. It seems that Ren is able to communicate with animals, though as he has yet to return to his human form, Rick can't test the extent to which his ability reaches. Ren has been in his wolf form for just over a week now, and apparently has been able to revert back to his human form once, but phased back almost immediately. Since then, he's been unable to return to his human form.

As for Glen, he took to awakening very well. The enhancements that his spirit gave him increased his confidence tenfold and he had just competed in his first gymnastics competition two weeks ago. As both Whitney and I suspected, Glen won with flying colors, and, surprisingly, attracted the attention of the Italian Olympic Gymnastics league. This could be bad. They needed to stay off the radar of the Italian coven in order to survive.

A vision hit me almost immediately, something was about to happen.

~*~X~*~

~BellaPOV~

Jake had invited me to go on a hike with him today, his excuse being that he, Embry and Quil didn't need my help this week.

I decided to humor him, as we'd gotten closer since the incident with Edward. Jake and I hardy spent any time apart after what happened, him out of fear for me, and me out of fear for what Jake might do.

I saw the expression on his face that day, and I don't doubt that if I wasn't there beside him that Jake would have killed Edward, or pretty close to it.

"Come on Bells, hurry up!" Jake called as he extended his arm towards me.

I took his hand with a blush. Curse him and his long legs.

"Jake, you feel warm, are you okay?"

"Never felt better." Jake replied with a smile that brightened our surroundings on his face.

We walked on, in silence for a while; our hands linked as Jake slowed his stride to match my step. The easy camaraderie that was between us was only broken at the sound of other voices.

"Come on Paul, it's not that bad…"

"The hell it's not bad. She was fucking beat Jared. BEAT UP! You have no clue how scared I was when she didn't come home last night… She's all I have left…"

The owners of the voices rounded the corner of the path in front of us, two very muscular boys. They were both just under six feet tall, and they both had dark brown eyes. One was more slender than the other, though the other was thicker with muscle. When I met his eyes, I gasped. I felt like I recognized this person.

He must've felt the same way, because his eyes widened with surprise before hardening into an unreadable expression.

"Fucking hell, no matter where I go I can't escape." He cursed as he shoved his way past Jake and I, pushing me with more force than necessary. With my clumsiness, it wasn't a surprise that I lost my balance and tripped backwards onto a very inconveniently placed blackberry bush, the thorns digging into my skin as I fell through the plant and down to the ground.

"Bella!" Jake cried as he dove towards me.

The other boy just stood there, looking quickly between me and the retreating figure of his friend, before running after his friend "Paul, wait up!"

"Bells, where does it hurt?" Jake asked frantically as I groaned in pain when he tried to pull me out of the spikey plant's grasp.

"Everywhere…" I moaned, my eyes meeting Jake's, his dark brown pools filled with concern and worry.

~SandraPOV~

I have no clue why Dannielle told me to come out here, all I knew was that Jacob and Bella were on this path, a ways ahead of me.

"Fucking hell, why does she remind me of him…" I heard a muscular young man grumble to himself as he stomped past me.

"Sorry Miss." Another young man said to me as he too slpped past me, probably chasing after the other, whom looked quite upset.

After a few more minutes of hiking, I found what Dannielle had sent me to help with, Bella stuck in a bramble with Jacob almost in tears above her, talking to her. Just by their body language, it was painfully obvious that Bella was in pain.

_Make their pain your own._

I looked around, wondering where the voice had come from, cautious as I approached the couple. Unlike Dannielle and Jazz, I didn't run the risk of either recognizing me. Though I'd known Bella for just as long as the other two, the only time that we'd ever interacted was at her birth.

As I approached, Jacob's head turned toward me, his eyes sending me a silent plea for help.

I knelt down next to Bella, and went through the checklist that my medical training demanded I go through.

"Do you feel any pain?"

A nod.

"Where?"

"Everywhere."

"Is there anywhere you don't feel pain?"

Bella's eyes quickly shifted to her left, towards the hand that Jacob was clinging to like a drowning man to a piece of driftwood.

_Touch her._

I felt compelled to obey the voice, my hand moving towards hers, Jacob's hesitantly moving away.

As soon as my skin touched hers I felt a ripple of pain shoot up through my arm as I pulled Bella up to her feet.

"Mind if I look honey?" I asked, motioning to her back.

She shook her head.

Her back looked bad, the holes in her shirt surrounded by blood, but when I lifted the material, there was only blood, no puncture wounds.

"So, how bad is it?" Jacob asked fearfully.

"It'll look worse than it actually is" Jacob let out a sigh of relief "But she should probably get some rest, and she'll be sore for a while. Take it easy on the exercise."

I leaned in towards Jacob's ear.

"Carry her." I whispered, and he nodded, picking her up bridal style in his arms that were starting to gain muscle.

"Jake, what are you doing?!" Bella shrieked.

"She said to take it easy Bells, and this is it." He told her as they walked back down the path in the direction they had come from.

I smiled to myself at the relationship they had, before my back started to feel somewhat damp. I removed my black sweater and pulled the back of my shirt around, seeing red dots against the white material.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	19. Fleeing the Jaws of Italy

Sorry this chappy's a touch late, time slipped away from me. Anyway, there's implied character death in this chapter... just a heads up.

Shay205: Thanks! I'm glad you think that!

DesSan 13: hehhehheh... Again, I can't answer it cause it's too spoilerly. Thanks for the review.

kouga's older woman: Here ya go!

VampireLover010: It'll be long. I have trouble letting go of my stories as well, so... If you have questions, feel free to ask away! If they contain too many spoilers, the worst I can do is tell you that the answer contains too many spoilers, and I'll still answer it if you want. Anyways, I'm glad you like it. Thanks for the review.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (4x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (16x), Guest (4x), Shay205 (9x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (6x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (3x), VampireLover010  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 18

~*~X~*~

~GlenPOV~

"Glen, hurry up!" Mom shouted at me as we I quickly finished packing what little I had left. Everything else we had was already on route to our new home in Seattle, Washington. In the United States. Luckily, with both my parents being American, I learned English in addition to Romanian when I was learning to talk in Romania, along with my younger brother and sister. "You ready yet?! We need to leave!"

"Almost ready mom!" I yelled back, zipping up the zipper on my suitcase, carrying the bag down the stairs.

"All check baggage?" mom asked as she met me at the bottom of the stairs.

"Yes mom." I sighed exasperatedly, her having already reminded me at least a million times, when we packed our boxes that had already been shipped. 'Anything that can't be checked goes in the box Glen.'

"Good, now we're going to meet Flore and her friends at the airport."

"Why do we have to move right now mom? Can't we wait until I'm done with Senior year?"

"No, Glen. Just know that whatever I do, I'm doing for you and your siblings, okay?"

"Mkay." Now she was starting to confuse me. What did our moving have to do with my siblings?

The ride to the airport was silent, an uncommon occurrence between me and my mom.

When we got to the airport, mom was really jumpy, always looking over her shoulder, even after we met with Flore and the others.

Mom and I checked our bags, with her looking over her shoulder almost every few seconds. When I tapped her on the shoulder to ask her something, she almost jumped a mile in the ar.

"Mom, it's okay; why're you so jumpy today?"

"It's alright Glen, I'm sorry. I just have a bad feeling about today."

"Don't worry mom, I'll protect you."

"Thanks honey." Mom smiled at me. I could tell it was forced, but it was good for now.

After we got through security, mom visibly relaxed a lot. Boarding was just starting for our plane when she got a text, after which she stiffened again, and grabbed Aurel to talk with him about something.

The rest of our French vampire friends all stiffened, obviously hearing what my mom had to say to Aurel.

When they came back, Aurel looked visibly shaken as he sat back down next to me.

"What's wrong?" I asked, having grown to know Aurel as like a brother over the years. He was the one member of the French coven to spend the most time with my mother and I, mainly helping me develop my gift as he had, with both our gifts being impassive reflexive, my mother felt it was better for him to help me rather than her, Flore or Rubea.

"Nothing." Aurel replied, much too quickly for that to be the actual case.

"I know something's wrong Aurel, tell me."

"Nous allons mourir." Aurel replied in quickly spoken French.

I know that you can BS your way through any of the romance languages when you knew one of them, and I knew two and still couldn't decipher what he said.

"What?"

"Nothing."

A few more moments passed before mom stood up with the French coven sans Aurel.

"We're going to go grab a few souvenirs before we get on the plane, don't wait for us." She told Aurel and I.

"Do you want me to call you when we board?"

"Yeah, sure Glen. Call me when you two get on the plane." Mom replied before she quickly stalked off with the rest of the coven.

"Why's she going now?" I questioned, pulling a book out of the extremely small carry on that I'd managed to convince mom to let me bring.

"I don't know. They're women." Aurel replied sarcastically. Despite being over half a century old, Aurel adapted quite well to the more modern culture rather than remaining stuck in the ways of his time like most vampires tended to do.

"What about the guys then?"

"They're whipped."

A few seconds passed between us, green and brown gazes meeting each other before we erupted into laughter.

"Imbarco secondo volo in classe tre-novanta-due per la città di New York… Now boarding second class for flight 392 bound for New York City." The flight attendant's voice carried over the intercom, interrupting our laughter.

"Well, let's get on."

"I have to call my mother first…" I mumbled as I dialed mom's number as we walked down the tunnel to the plane.

Mom picked up on the second ring. "Honey, Glen… Know that no matter what happens, or what will happen, that I love you and your brothers and sisters more than anything else in the world."

Then she hung up.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	20. Italy's Closing Jaws

Okay, I need to explain something about this chapter, but I'll do it in a AN at the end so I can prevent spoilers.

Guest: Thanks!

DelSan 13: Hopefully this chapter clears things up for you?

kouga's older woman: Thanks so much! Here's the next chapter!

VampireLover010: I don't know, what do you think's going to happen? lol Here's your answer.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (4x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (16x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (9x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (7x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (4x), VampireLover010 (2x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 19

~*~X~*~

~WhitneyPOV~

Hanging up on Glen was the hardest thing I've done in my life. The birth of the twins and the fear that came with the caesarian section had nothing on how hard hanging up on my firstborn after speaking to him for the last time.

Most certainly he would realize when we didn't arrive in Seattle within the next week that we had not in fact missed the flight, and instead something was horribly wrong. Aurel, I knew couldn't keep such a secret as this from Glen for too long, especially once he started asking questions, those two were much too close for secrets to be kept between them.

"Remember Whitney, it's for the good of everyone." Flore consoled, resting her hand on my shoulder.

I nodded once as tears flooded my eyes. I could admit to myself that this had to be done for the greater good, but I feared what happened next. I have missed my Ren and Isabella, and my husband and best friends… But I survived because I knew it was for the greater good that we were separated.

I'd managed to stay ahead of the Italian coven thus far, if only because of Dannielle's visions, but it seems that my journey was destined to end before I could see all my children reunited.

Through my tear-clouded vision, I could see a line of black cloaks approaching us, really more of a cluster than a line.

As I wiped the tears from my eyes, I projected my shield around us.

The strength of the invisible barrier wavered, being controlled by my emotions.

It was only a matter of time though, until we die.

My resolve strengthened, and along with it my shield. We had to delay the coven long enough for my child's flight to depart. There is no question about it, it's imperative that we delay the Italians for as long as possible.

~*~(ThirdPOV)~*~

Blood curdling screams sounded through the J wing of the airport as black mists swirled around a semicircular area, the perfectly shaped prism impenetrable.

A plane took off, a worried child stared out the plane's window as his friend sat in silence.

As her willpower and resolve faded, so did the shape of the prism, until finally, it collapsed, the blackened smoke invading the pure air as quickly as fire consumes powder.

~*~X~*~

AN2: So, I was planning on going into the details of the battle, but I didn't because I felt that it is still to early yet into the story for this kind of fight scene. However, I am asking for your help on this issue: would you like to see a more detailed fight scene here? If you want to see the fight scene, then I'll get it written up asap and post it as an outtake as soon as I'm finished with it, in addition to you usual Friday update.

Also, I am thinking of adopting an update schedule, where I'd like update every Tuesday and Friday, with a Third chapter on Sunday if the reviews for the week total say 15? What is your opinion on that schedule?

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	21. Obsession and Envy

So, here's my new plan on updating, that will hopefully stay true for a while. I will upload new chapters every Tuesday and Friday. If by the time I check on Saturday (evening) there are twenty or more reviews since Tuesday, I will upload an additional chapter that Sunday.

Now, this chapter backtracks a bit, but helps portray a character in a certain light. enjoy.

Shay205: So glad you're enjoying it

kouga's older woman: coming right up! =P

DelSan 13: it was necessary.

VampireLover010: I want more Glen too *pout* but the next few chapters are centered around Jake and Bella, so can you really complain? And, Whitney had to die along with the rest of the French Coven for a reason. Though I had much larger plans for the French Coven, they were unfortunately cut short for all but my favorite member, whose 'gift' is the one I thought I could do the most with. Also, thank you for being the only one to answer my questions. I appreciate your feedback.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (4x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (16x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (10x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (8x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (5x), VampireLover010 (3x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15  
Ren-15  
Glen-17  
Jake-14  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13  
Embry-14

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 20

~*~X~*~

~EdwardPOV~

How could I let myself be torn away from my love by the dictation of that mutt. He knows nothing of how to treat a lady with such a refined touch as mine, that much was made certain at the ball where his partner abandoned him as soon as they entered the premises.

_Edward, calm down._ Alice thought.

What does she know? She knows nothing of the pain I feel at the separation from my singer. Her blood sang to me as soon as I arrived on the school premises, the sweet scent of strawberries and cherry blossoms with the tiniest amount of lemons called to me, drawing me first to her car, a real old hand me down that looked like it could have been in existence while I was still human. But more on her absolutely unsafe sack of gears later, what enraged me more than her apparent lack of self-preservation was the presence of another, male scent. I vaguely recognized the scent, but from where I couldn't pinpoint.

A growl built in my throat before Alice set her hand on my shoulder, shaking her head. _It's not worth it Edward._

How dare she tell me that removing my singer from the threat of another male wasn't worth it.

_We don't want to draw attention. We'll see her at lunch and then you can gather information from her mind._

Hesitantly, I agreed.

Rosalie and Jasper were enrolled as juniors while Emmett, Alice and I were sophomores.

All through my morning classes, I wondered how cruel whomever controlled our actions must be, to ensure that me singer and only shared one class.

The constant chatter of other's thoughts that I'd learned to tune out over the decades was back in full force now. I was unable to concentrate on blocking them out, though it served some positive purpose after all. I had learned my singer's name and schedule. Isabella. My dearest sweet Isabella. Just knowing her name was enough to quell my disdain over being separated from her most nearly the entire day.

At lunch, she was again with the mutt. They looked happy together, but I knew that I would soon replace that dog at her side, that he would soon run away with his tail between his legs; and then, Isabella would be mine, all mine.

A smile graced my lips at the thought, the way her body would feel against mine…

No, I mustn't be too hasty in my daydreaming, lest they head to me doing something regrettable in a public setting such as this, not to forget that the mutt was right next to her. Though my family would surely aid me, a genocide occurring at a high school would surely catch the Volturi's attention, as the effect would be of that beast transforming in this setting. I have no doubt that we would be able to put the beast to rest and make off with my mate.

Bringing my mind back to the present, retrieving my tray of human food from the lunch line and sitting beside my 'siblings', I allowed myself to seek out the surely sweet voice of my Isabella's innermost thoughts. Surely the voice that accompanied such a sweet scent would be just as sweet, if not more so.

It took me a minute before realizing that I could hear nothing from inside her head, nothing at all.

I tried the better part of five minutes, just trying to hear a whisper of her sweet inner voice, but alas, nothing.

"What's wrong Edward?" Jasper asked, most likely sensing my distress.

"I can't hear my sweet Isabella's mind."

Emmett smiled while the rest of my family shared a look of shock as Alice's gaze drew distant.

"Isn't that a relief bro? Now you don't have to hear how creepy she thinks you are… Ouch! Rose why'd ya do that?" Emmett stated, before being hit in the back of his head by Rosalie.

"Shut up you moron. She's his singer. He doesn't need you riling him up about her."

Ah Rosalie, ever quick to aid me even though you don't know it.

"Don't worry Edward, you'll be assigned to work with her on a project for English Lit, and then you'll take her to Tolo…"

Sure enough, just as all her visions are, Alice's vision was correct.

A few months later I was paired with Isabella to 'translate' and act out a scene from one of Shakespeare's plays, which were drawn at random.

I hoped vehemently for Romeo and Juliet to be out play, but alas it was not meant to be. From the hat, Isabella drew the slip that had the title 'All's Well That Ends Well' written on it, in Mrs. Gran's elegant old-styled cursive script.

Isabella kept our interaction about the project outside class to a minimum, nothing more than a few exchanged emails, until Alice told me that today was the day that I had to make myself seen with her at lunch. And so I did. I asked her an innocent question about how she read a specific line that I myself understood perfectly well, making sure to catch her a short ways before we walked into the lunch room. I could hear the mutt's thoughts loud and clear. He thought that Bella betrayed him, and instead asked the girl whom was pining after him to Tolo. I would wait until the next day to ask my sweet Isabella.

The next day, Isabella had obviously shed a few tears over the matter that the mutt had asked someone else. I comforted her and waited until she was distracted in our work before asking. She said yes. There was no doubt in my mind that she would agree, but humans are such unpredictable creatures sometimes. However, I knew that my Isabella wanted to hurt the mutt just as much as he had hurt her.

One thing I hadn't counted on was that the mutt's date would leave him behind, just using him as a trophy to flaunt to her friends, that 'Jacob Black asked her to Tolo.' I almost felt bad for the mutt, that was, until my Isabella started conversing with him.

When I heard my Isabella's skin come into contact with the mutt's, I was instantly worried. Alice had tried to stop my actions, but I knew that the mutt wouldn't do anything so long as Isabella was near me.

What I hadn't anticipated however, was how easily my Isabella's skin could be marked, and how far the mutt would go in order to protect her. As her father stood in front of Carlisle, Esme, the school principle and I, I once again regretted not listening to Alice's warning as a restraining order was served against me. A horrible oversight on my part, foregoing the fact that her father was the chief of police, got me not only removed from her classes, but required me to have lunch elsewhere on the campus.

And as such, any contact I might have with my Isabella is now cut off.

But I don't care what the flimsy human law dictates I do. I will not be separated from my mate. I will bend to the law for now, but I will have her; I'll make sure of that.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	22. Reunitig Friends

So, this chapter was going to take a different direction, but I edited it, and will probably edit it again.

Just a reminder- you're at 4 of 20 reviews for an extra chapter on Sunday... just 16 more by Saturday evening...

Shay205: Yes he is, and thanks!

kouga's older woman: I'll update reliably every Tuesday and Friday, so look forward to em ;P

VampireLover010: Yes he should, and just be patient. We're back in Bella's POV now, and Jake will be coming back next chapter and staying for quite a while. But, I hope the wolf in this chapter will do!

DelSan 13: I don't even know what Edward's up to ;P Enjoy the new chapter~~

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (4x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (16x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (11x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (9x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (6x), VampireLover010 (4x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 21

~*~X~*~

~Bella POV~

"Bella, hurry up! We're late for dinner!"

"I'm coming!" I shouted back, pulling my sweatshirt over my head.

I rushed down the stairs as fast as I could, surprisingly not tripping, as I met Charlie by the door.

I sat in the front seat of the cruiser, watching the familiar landscape pass us by, the familiar greens and browns of the trees moving past much too fast for eyes to gain complete focus looking out the window as I was.

I hadn't seen Leah and Seth for a few years now. Leah and I are the same age, and got along great, or at least until the childhood 'everyone and anyone can be your friend' stage left her. I don't know when, or why it happened, but Leah started distancing herself from me; calling me a halfbreed, and saying that I didn't belong on the Quileute Reservation and I should go back to the reservation I came from and beg to be accepted back. It wasn't a fact that I hid very well, most of my friends at the time knew that I was half native, though they never knew more than that, because I didn't know any more than I told them. All I could remember was that my dad saw native and my mom was white. After the taunting left her, Leah made it a point to avoid me, always going out with her newly acquired boyfriend whenever I'd stop by with Charlie. It's because of that that as soon as I started Freshmen year I started having study groups with my friends whenever Charlie went fishing with Harry, and this year I have the excuse of tutoring the boys; they never turned down an opportunity to get my help with their homework.

In fact, I think that Quil and Embry were jealous of Jake, given that he lived with me, he got more help. Which isn't true- I make it a point to not help Jake when we were at home. He needs to think for himself, and only uses me as a last resort.

Seth and I haven't been in contact just as long as Leah and I have been. Since Seth is three years younger than me, it's hard to meet without coming into contact with Leah as well. Cutting Seth out of my life was the one thing that I hated about having to cut ties with Leah.

Today was the first time that I'm going to visit the Clearwater's in over two years.

"So Bella, remember Leah and Seth?" Charlie asked me as we passed the 'Welcome to the Quileute Reservation' sign that was barely readable from the weathering it had received over the years.

"Yes." I mumbled, wanting to just go to Billy's and spend time with Jake as usual.

That was the extent of our conversation the rest of the drive to the small Clearwater abode.

The house hadn't changed much from the last time I've been there. The treated cedar siding was the same red brown that I remembered, but a few shades darker in places.

Charlie and I got out of the cruiser in silence, the only noise the opening of the back door as I slid the apple pie I'd baked out of the back seat. My fingers gripped the glass sides of the pie plate so tightly that my knuckles were starting to turn white. I gripped the plate tightly to my body, my arms slightly shaking.

I could still remember the verbal lashing that Leah had given me the last time we'd seen each other, an unintentional chance meeting while I was waiting for Jake at First Beach

"Bella!" I looked up from the cellophane covered lattice to see the boyish face of Seth Clearwater running out the stained oak front door left ajar by Charlie, whom was standing just inside the opened door.

"Seth…" I mumbled, more to myself than to anyone else just before he wrapped his arms around my waist, pressing his head into my arm.

"I've missed you so much…" Seth mumbled as he rubbed his face into the cotton material of my sweatshirt.

"I've missed you too Seth…" I mumbled, looking awkwardly around for a place to set the pie down so that I could return Seth's hug.

"You didn't have to bring anything Bella." Sue said as she took the pie from my hands, having obviously heard Seth calling my name and had seen my look of distress while I was holding the pie.

The burden of pastry gone from my hands, I returned Seth's embrace.

I almost regretted the question that I felt compelled to ask, if only for my own self preservation "Where's Leah?" Granted, I knew with almost one hundred percent certainty that she would be out with her boyfriend, on some date to avoid me, but my question was answered by Leah's appearance in the doorway.

"Hi Bella…" she said sourly, taking a few steps toward me.

"When's she leaving?" I mumbled in Seth's ear.

Seth grimaced "Whenever Sam comes." He whispered in my ear.

"Sam? What happened to Stephen?"

"He dumped her last Fall. She's had two boyfriends since then."

"Rebounds?"

Seth nodded "She dumped the first the day before Christmas and the second on his birthday."

"What's different about Sam then?"

"She claims that it was love at first sight."

"That just sounds like an excuse."

"I know. I wonder what Sam gave her on Valentines day that kept her from dumping him as she planned."

"She planned out when to dump him?!"

Seth nodded "Yep, had a plan for the two before him too. She's Leah, the terminal heartbreaker."

I giggled as I walked back to the house, one of our arms wrapped around the other's waist.

The inside of the house remained largely unchanged from what I'd remembered; the same old wood coffee table, the same brown couch… the only thing that I didn't recognize right away was the sixty inch plasma screen mounted on the wall across from the couch.

"Dinner'll be ready in a few minutes guys." Sue called from the dining room, the scent of whatever stew she was cooking wafting through the warm interior of the house.

"How's school doing little man?" Charlie asked, ruffling Seth's hair as he walked past us, dropping himself on the couch.

"We've just gotten his progress report, and you'd never guess what was on it." Harry answered for Seth "Why don't you tell Charlie what your mother and I saw on your report card Seth?"

I briefly met Leah's eyes before shifting my own gaze towards Seth, whom was looking sheepishly down at his feet.

"I'm failing English and History…" he mumbled.

"And he's going to go to Summer school if he can't bring his grade up." Harry stated, glaring at his son.

"I'm sure Bella could tutor him, she is after all already helping Jacob and his friends."

I looked up at Charlie, surprised. I missed Seth, and tutoring him would give me the opportunity to see him without the threat of Leah looming over my head. The fact that Charlie knew that I missed Seth surprised me more than Leah actually staying here.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind." Charlie continued, obviously seeing my expression as he sent me a quick wink.

"You wouldn't mind another one jumping on your tutoring train?" Harry asked me, a smile licking at the edges of his mouth.

"I wouldn't mind it at all." I quickly sputtered out, amusing both Charlie and Harry while Seth looked up at me with reverence in his eyes.

"I don't know…" Harry started, though I could tell by the twinkle in his eyes that he was just teasing Seth.

"Please dad." Seth begged, turning towards his father with pleading eyes, oblivious to the fact that Harry was toying with him.

"I guess it would be all right…"

"Yes! Love you Dad!" Seth exclaimed, tackling his father in a loving embrace. Charlie and I could barely contain our laughter at the exchange between father and son.

Dinner passed rather uneventful, the smoked salmon so tender that it quite literally almost melted in my mouth. Leah kept sending harsh glances in my direction, which I ignored as best I could, opting instead to listen to Seth's banter about school and the sports he hoped to participate in when he transferred to Forks High next year. Harry didn't seem all too happy about Seth wanting to transfer, but all his objections were immediately shot down by one glare from Sue.

As Charlie and I were getting ready to leave, Seth ambushed me in another hug. "So when do I meet you?"

"Next Saturday at Jake's." I replied with a smile before returning his hug briefly and getting back into the cruiser with Charlie.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.


	23. Teaching the Young

You all only got 13 reviews last week, how disappointing! Remember, 20 between today and Saturday over any chapters and you all get a bonus chapter on Sunday!

Anyways, sorry this is so late, I got caught up in more pressing matters, but at least it's up, right?

JK. No seriously, I swore I posted this yesterday, but apparently I didn't. It was already all typed up and set up and stuff too. Sorry for this chapter's lateness.

kouga's older woman: You're welcome

Shay205: Leah... Got a last minute character overhaul, so... Uh... I can't really tell you what's wrong with Leah? Thanks for the Review

TeamSethLover: OH MY GOD YOU'RE ALIVE! *cough* Ahem... I'll try to respond to your reviews in sequence so here we go... You tell me if you think Jake's on his way to phasing. I can tell you this though, your guess is probably going to be right ;) Yes, sue! Rick? You mean Ren? And It's not really animal telepathy- he can communicate and understand the animals ie Dodge. As for if he gets to keep it and the specific mechanics of it, let's just say they're going to a zoo (Do they even have zoos in Canada? Silly question.) How could they have imprinted, Paul hasn't phased yet, though I suppose you don't know that... or at least until now. Oh Glen, things are going to happen soon enough... Also, Bella doesn't exactly know Paul and the same way opposite- let's just say there's a little allusion going on there, and I'm giving myself a headache working out -snipsnip- Oh hey, I did say Glen was coming to Wahsington... whoops. Time to edit a little... If I'm one of five, then who are the other four? lol jk. Yes, reading closely is good, cause I plant little seeds in the most inopportune of places that will blossom later on. One word: Because. Yes, Whitney died, but I'm currently playing around in my head with a way to get her back, so never fear, she -may- be back later. This Edward chapter was a personal favorite of mine to write, as well as an emotion dump. I was very angry with the world when I wrote hat, and doing so soothed me quite a bit- it was therapeutic. Seth. I love him too. And Embry, and Jared too, so expect to see them quite a bit in addition to Glen, Ren, Bella and Jake. Here's another chapter for you to feast on~~ Missed ya~~

megan39: Seth's character makes me happy too~ As for Leah, let's just say she has succumbed to -snipsnip- Thanks for the review.

VampireLover010: Leah won't be touched on for a while yet, while Seth... Don't ya just wanna squeeze him silly?

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (5x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (22x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (12x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (9x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (7x), VampireLover010 (5x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 22

~*~X~*~

~Bella POV~

This week has felt like it's been going by at a snail's pace. Ever since Harry agreed that Seth would join our little tutor group, I've been itching to reconnect with my childhood friend.

"Sheesh Bella, aren't you a little eager to be tutoring an eighth grader?" Charlie asked, shaking his head at the excitement that I must've been obviously radiating.

"I know, but it's _Seth._" I replied, quite literally almost bouncing in my seat now.

"If I knew you would have reacted like this, I would've taken you to the Clearwater's sooner."

"It's fine Charlie." I replied, getting up from the beat-up kitchen table whose light blue paint was starting to peel, and running upstairs to get my backpack. Though I would be tutoring them, it doesn't mean that I can't do my homework as well.

"Cooking dinner over there again?" Charlie asked as I walked past the kitchen on my way to the front door.

"Yep."

"I'll be over as soon as my shift ends."

"Kay." I replied as I opened the door and left into the terminally damp Washington air.

I waited for Charlie in the passenger seat of the cruiser. I felt bad for him, always having to chauffeur me back and forth between the reservation and school. I went through driver's ed during freshman year like most people, and got my license on time—Charlie made sure of that; but even with a license, there's still one thing that I'm missing—a non-government issued car. The only reason why I was able to practice driving with Charlie in the cruiser was because he's the chief of police. That's it. Even being the chief of police can't get him out of not letting me drive the cruiser without him present, much to his chagrin—he has to miss parts of whatever game he's watching whenever I need to be somewhere or go grocery shopping.

"So Bells, what are you going to help the boys with today?"

"I'm pretty sure that Quil and Embry are reading The Lord of the Flies in English, and Jake's writing an essay. As for Seth, I have no idea- it depends on what he needs help with."

Charlie nodded once, and we didn't speak to each other again for the duration of the fifteen minute drive to the Black's—to Jake's.

Charlie waved as he pulled out of the gravel driveway after I had gathered all my things. I watched as the cruiser pulled around the corner before turning around, feeling a set of arms wrap themselves around my waist, causing my spine to stiffen and for my grip on the textbooks in my arms to loosen, the heavy books falling slightly further towards the ground.

"Bella?"

My spine relaxed as I recognized Seth's voice coming from behind me.

"God Seth, you scared me."

"Sorry…" Seth's voice trailed as his arms fell from about my waist.

"It's okay Seth; just, don't surprise me like that again, okay?"

"Sure!" He replied, running back into the red barn-like house that housed Billy and Jacob Black.

I shook my head as I approached the door left ajar, stepping across the premises and gently closing the solid wood door.

"Bella!" came chorusing from the living room floor, two out of tune voices accompanied by Jake standing up and walking towards me. I knew what was coming, yet I suddenly couldn't control my own breathing as he wrapped his arms around me, surrounding me with his natural warmth.

"I missed you." He breathed into my ear, planting a quick peck on my cheek.

"But it's been less than a day…" I mumbled, not able to admit that I missed him as well. We saw each other every day during the week, if anything I should be sick of seeing him every day and glad he's gone on the weekends, not missing him when he's gone. We're practically siblings in all manners except blood!

"Come on Jake, don't hog her all to yourself!" Quil whined "You get to use the great fountain of English and History knowledge almost every day! Spread the wealth to us poor folk!"

"I already told you guys—Bella hardly helps me during the week!" Jake whined back, releasing me from his warm embrace.

I walked over to Embry, who was trying to hold back laughter at his two friends bickering back and forth, while Seth was watching the whole exchange with wide doe eyes, his gaze entranced on Jake and Quil's bickering.

"So Em, what'd you need help with?"

"I, um…" he stuttered as a blush began to dust his cheeks, almost undetectable against his darkened skin "I failed an English quiz, and I n-need to do corrections."

"What was the quiz on?"

"Ch-chapters one th-through s-six."

"Did you understand what happened in those chapters?" I was answered by the shaking of Embry's head "Why don't you give me your book and we'll go over the first few chapters right now, and you can reread the rest later?"Em nodded, always the shy one. That could have something to do with him being Makah growing up on Quileute land though. I'd imagine that he'd gone through much the same discrimination that I'd received from Leah.

As I skimmed through the pages of the first chapter in Embry's book, I glanced up at him, having been dragged into Jake and Quil's 'argument' somehow. I couldn't help but think about how lucky Embry and I are to have such good friends as Jake and Quil.

~*~X~*~

By three, I'd helped Embry understand the first three chapters of the novel, gave Seth a crash course on the Holocaust, gave Quil a much needed push to actually read the novel, and helped Jake revise and edit his essay.

I'd also like to mention that it's a whole lot harder than you'd think to tutor four boys, even though they are in lower grades than me.

"So what do you want to do now?" I asked Jake as soon as QUil walked out the door.

"You aren't going to make me finish revising my essay for a second time?"

"I'm tired from teaching you four." I rubbed my face out of exasperation "How can Seth not understand the Holocaust?"

"You don't know the teachers at the rez school." Jake sighed. "I was lucky and got the history teacher who could actually teach history."

"Why don't they hire better teachers then?"

"They refuse to hire any teachers not of full native descent, so that's why…"

"That's why they let you go to school in Forks."

"Exactly." Jake paused as he closed his textbook "Why don't we go to First Beach?"

"You want to go to the beach, in Washington, in early March."

"Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

"Jake, we live in one of the rainiest states in the continental US."

"So?"

"What'll we do if it rains?"

"I dunno, hide under a tree?"

"Jake." I whined, dragging out the 'a'

"We'll take raincoats then."

After a few minutes, Jake had found me one of his old raincoats that fit me—an ugly gray jacket that I remembered Jacob wearing quite a bit before he outgrew it.

"Come on Bells." Jake said as he dragged me down a path that cut throught the forest, and supposedly lead to First Beach.

"Are you sure this is the right way?" I asked again, gripping onto Jake's hand tighter after I stumbled over what was probably the smallest exposed root known to man.

"Come on Bells, I've been wandering these forests my entire life, you've been wandering these woods alongside me for almost just as long."

"Jake…"

"Just trust me?"

I nodded, looking down where my feet were stepping as Jake continued dragging me down the path way towards the beach.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 20 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	24. The Strong's Lament

This week, the magic number's 15, since I updated late on Tuesday. Right now you guys have 3! Only 3!

TeamSethLover: You mean today? Anyways, I never learned about the Holocaust until 7th grade, and not the reasons why until just recently. Embry and Seth... I could tell you about Seth, but spoilers. And Em, (WAY too many 'Em' characters btw- Emily, Embry, Emmett...) I have no clue, actually I do, but that's for later. After a little time inside his head.

Shay205: What makes you say that? anyway, glad you enjoyed.

Kouga's Older Woman: Glad I can help~~ ;)

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (5x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (23x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (13x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (9x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (8x), VampireLover010 (5x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone

reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 23

~*~X~*~

~Bella POV~

Surprisingly, the gray cloud cover didn't threaten rain like it normally did, the menacing gray-black now light gray color.

Jake and I walked down the beach, our shoes leaving indentations in the damp sand behind us.

"So when are you going to start reading Romeo and Juliet?"

I asked, breaking the silence that hung over the two of us.

"Mrs. Yang said that we were going to start sometime next week."

"And you're sure that you've…"

"Can we not talk about school Bells? We've just spent how many hours on homework, and now you wanna talk more school?"

"Well… Fine Jake. What do _you_ want to talk about?"

"What about what you want for your birthday?"

"Jake, my birthday's over seven months away!"

"I know. A guy's gotta have some time to save up his money for a gift ya know?"

"You don't have to get me anything Jake…"

"But I want to. It's only natural for two friends to want to exchange gifts, isn't it?"

"I guess, but…"

"No buts Bells. I'm buying you something for your birthday."

Jake and I slipped into the comfortable silence that defined our relationship, walking hand in hand down the beach, or at least until we came across another figure sitting on the sand.

I vaguely recognized the figure, though from where I wasn't quite sure. I am quite certain that the person wasn't from Forks, which was quite obvious given his apparent darkened skin tone, not to mention anyone as large as he would most certainly make an impression on my mind.

"Who is that Jake?" I whispered to my companion, leaning in slightly so that my voice would be caught by his ear.

"That's Paul, Bells. We don't want to be near him."

"Why Jake? What's so bad about Paul?"

"Bells, just trust me on this."

"Jake…"

"Okay, fine. He's just… Let's just say that he puts the word bully to shame."

"But he doesn't look that bad…" I replied, lying through my teeth. Now that Jake mentioned it, Paul did look like he could be a bully. I mean, just by looking at the way he held himself would tip off any bystander to keep out of his way.

"Doesn't look that bad…" Jake laughed "Bells, even a moron can tell that he should be avoided. Very few people aren't intimidated by Paul, most of whom are those he respects or is friends with, and the rest are just plain stupid."

"Jake, you don't know what he's been through…"

~PaulPOV~

I'd come down to the beach to think; something I've done a lot of since my mother was killed. Murdered.

At first everyone blamed me, and I have to admit, with my current streak of trouble I'd blame myself too. But I wasn't like that before, or at least, not before that day…

I'd always wondered who my father was, but I'd lived in the bliss that not every household was so much unlike my own. My mother kept my mind off my lack of a father, and spoiled me rotten. Or at least, until the day I came home from Jared's house to find my mother lying face first on the floor, in a pool of what I now know was alcohol, the tiny fragments of a shattered bottle spread like confetti around her. And on the table, was a single sheet of paper, next to an opened white envelope with a dark blue envelope next to it. Climbing onto the chair, I snatched all three items off the table, and sat down on the floor next to my mom, it not occurring to me to call 911, my curiosity getting the best of me. The piece of paper was filled with words so small that my young brain couldn't process them. So I threw it over my shoulder. The opened envelope had my mom's name on it, and had a stamp of some formation of triangles that I'd never seen before. I now know that the stamp had an image of the Eiffel Tower. The blue envelope had the same stamp, but my name on it, so I tore it open.

It said 'Happy Birthday' on the front, and a twenty dollar bill fell out of the card as my mouth fell open. I wondered who would've sent me a birthday card so late, given that my birthday was already a week gone, so I hastily opened the card while collecting the money, which had just narrowly missed the alcohol, and I started crying.

Written on the inside was '_I hope your birthday was wonderful, Love Dad_'

I knew then, that my dad didn't hate me.

I maintained that joyful attitude all through elementary school, and most of middle school, my mom putting on a fake smile every time I opened something from my dad, which came twice a year, a card in July, a few days after my birthday and a package a few days before Christmas. The day everything went south with my mother was the day I asked her why my Dad didn't live with us.

I remember that day in seventh grade well, the day my mother hit me for the first time.

After that day, her personality did a complete one-eighty. All of the letters and packages never reached my hands, stowed somewhere I would never find them within the house, the stamps never to be seen by me. Each stamp was always from a different place, and they were another of my favorite parts of receiving each thing from my father.

The slap, which she apologized for quickly soon turned into a daily routine.

The confusion I felt at first was soon replaced with rage as the relationship between my mother and I slowly deteriorated and rage built up inside me. My mother slowly fell into the black hole that was the life of an alcoholic, and never tried to get out of it once she fell in.

When I first learned that my mother had been murdered while I was working with Jared on a project at my house while she had been out doing whatever, I was bittersweet. I mean yes, our relationship was horrible, but she was my mother, and you only get one.

Being the main suspect of the investigation only compounded my anger, until they finally ruled me out as a suspect from Jared and his family's repeated testimony that I was at their house at the time of the crime. Suicide was ruled out at the same time, once it was confirmed that there was no evidence of her killing herself, no gunpowder residue or anything. The fact that the only gun that we owned was locked in a safe, to which I didn't know the combination helped considerably.

To this day, the case is unsolved.

After my mother's death, my anger at her was redirected at my father, who I blamed for her death. If he had been with us, then I never would have asked the question that destroyed our relationship and eventually lead to her death.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the chief's son and his halfbreed friend talking, about me.

Normally, this wouldn't bother me, but that girl just made something click inside of me, the rage starting to boil over, my body starting to tremble with anger as I stood from my place in the sand and snapped my body to face the two.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 15 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	25. Words Hurt

This chapter didn't flow so easily, mainly because I wanted to write this specific scene in Ren's POV, which you'll see on Sunday, that is if you give me 15 reviews by then.

Also, I'm reducing the required amount of reviews from 20 to fifteen. You guys only gave me 8 reviews last week, so why don't I dangle the proverbial carrot closer to your noses?

Shay205: Even if you were seriously guessing, then I guess I've mislead you, for Bella won't awaken for a while yet, though some could argue that she already has. Either way, I know the feeling. Thanks for the review!

Megan39: I can't tell you... Sorry~~ P=

DelSan 13: It's okay, I mean look at TSL. I can answer all of those questions for ya: I don't know, yes and yes. Not that they will necessarily all happen in that order...

kouga's older woman: Yes he does!

TeamSethLover: One of the things that I hated most about the books was that there was no backstory behind most of the wolfpack, most specifically Jared, Embry and Paul, so I make it a point in all my stories to give most characters at least some background, though Paul's is more important in this case. I can't answer your questions beyond 'maybe' for spoiler reasons, but I'm glad you like it.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (6x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (24x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (14x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (10x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (9x), VampireLover010 (5x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone

reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 24

~*~X~*~

~BellaPOV~

Jake and I immediately stopped talking the moment Paul stood up, trembling like a drug addict in withdrawal.

"J-Jake…" I mumbled as fear started tearing through my body.

Jake pushed me behind him, standing protectively between me and Paul, half my head hidden behind his broadening shoulders.

Paul smirked a slight smirk as he stalked towards us. My eyes met his for a moment, and all I could see was pure rage as he spoke.

"Get off our land you no good halfbreed."

My jaw fell open, shock tearing through me. Of course, Leah had told me essentially the same thing, but not with the absolution that this person held in his voice.

"You aren't even Quileute. Go back to your own land."

Tears started flowing from my eyes, overflowing their dams, the salty droplets streaming down my cheeks as I twined my hand in Jake's.

"You don't know that! Bella could be half Quileute for all you know!" Jake snapped back.

"I'd bet that even _she_ doesn't know where she comes from. There are many other ethnicities besides native that have dark skin. She could just as easily be Spanish or Italian."

"I… She…" Jake stuttered, pulling me closer to him as my sobs became increasingly violent.

"No come back? That's because you know you're beat. Now send the halfbreed back to her tribe, or were they so ashamed of her that they had to send her away as well?"

I could feel the anger radiating off of Jake. I placed a pam on his back, slightly pulling on the hand caught in my deathgrip, diverting his attention from the person in front of us to my eyes.

"I want to go home Jake."

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 15 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	26. Shock and Denial

Now for timeline stuff, this chapter takes place a few hours after chapter 18/19.

We have 6 of 15 reviews now, just 9 more for that bonus chapter!

Shay205: Thanks!

DelSan 13: Yes he can be, decide for yourself, and no she didn't. Jacob, Leah and Sam were like the only ones who had flushed out backstory, so I have my own that I have for each, that I really try to bring out in every story.

SarahanjoMiller: Thanks for the complement. I can not just sit down and pump out thousands of words like other writers. I find that when I do that my writing gets weighed down with repetitive adjectives/adverbs, meaningless dialogue and junk that would be better off omitted. Not to mention I lose focus rather quickly when I do that, and as a result it would take me at least a week to finish a chapter with what I would consider very crappy quality. I do edit chapters together, however when I'm writing fanfiction I keep the chapters brief to hold my attention and so that I can update multiple times a week. Admittedly, some chapters WILL be shorter than others, but it is for the same reason I stated before- when I try and force words my words per hour slows way down, so I cut my losses and wrap it up as quickly as possible. I think it is much better to have short chapters that don't feel forced rather than long chapters that are forced and diluted.

TeamSethLover: Yes it does, though just where it stems from I can't tell you as of now. Nope, Bella can't get a break. But, you'll find that siblings will be quite similar in that regard *winkwinknudgenudge* Yep, you WANT to see the Sunday chap, cause then you'll get to see Ren again!

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (6x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (25x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (15x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (11x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (9x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (2x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 25

~*~X~*~

~GlenPOV~

While we were on the plane from Italy, I figured out what had happened. My mother had died. Saving me.

At that point, there wasn't much that Aurel could do, beyond comfort me, while he was also suffering from the loss of his entire coven.

Once we had landed in Seattle, there was a car waiting for us, to which Aurel had just magically produced the key, explaining to me that it was one of the few things my mother had told him about the whole situation.

Besides her inevitable death and all.

We left Seattle pretty quickly though, all my mother's and my worldly possessions getting shipped to a storage unit in Port Angeles while Aurel and I drove to Portland.

I have no clue how our stuff got shipped to Portland, but it was.

And all the while, Aurel and I fled South with an impeccable amount of cash in hand. It was on the drive that I learned Aurel was nineteen when he was turned.

Aurel was shy in life, and never wanted to draw attention to himself, a desire stemming from his mother's loud, rambunctious attitude and the torture his older sisters put him through, using him as their own lifesize doll and forcing him to go out in the ridiculous things they dressed him in.

One day, when he went out no one batted an eye at the neon purples and greens he was wearing, despite looking like he was glowing. Overjoyed, his mood turned brighter, his sister's torment almost bearable now that no one would notice him.

He had never felt fear as strongly as the night he was changed.

Aurel had been attacked while walking home from school, beaten half to death and left for dead in a side alley of Paris. He was too far gone when Flore found him, taking pity on the pitiful human, she bit him. His dreams of being a famous pastry chef died in that moment when Flore's fangs pierced his skin. Forever frozen at nineteen, and a newborn vampire, Aurel dropped out of college and joined the French Coven.

I glanced up briefly, seeing the 'Welcome to Oregon' sign hanging from the green beams of the Columbia River Interstate Bridge.

As Aurel continued driving through the horrible Portland traffic, I looked out the window to my right, over the Columbia river at the setting sun.

My mother will never see the setting sun again. It is a fact that is hard to grasp hold of, even though I had already accepted her death. Sort of.

Our travels through Europe have drawn to a close, and I have no clue where my siblings are.

I haven't spared a thought to Bella or Ren in a long while… I wonder if they still go by the names they went by as children? The last time I saw them, they were five, which made me seven; ten years ago.

Has it really been that long?

Am I really seventeen already?

I already know the answer, it's impossible to deny, but is it wrong to hold onto that inkling of hope, of desire, that this is all just some rancid nightmare and I'll wake up like nothing's happened, in my bed in that small Romanian village, to my younger siblings playing with my face or pulling all the blankets off my sleeping body or shoving me out of my bed?

How, how can any of this be real?

No, it can't be. I'll wake up anytime now, in my lumpy bed in our stone house in the quiet village in the Romanian countryside, see my mother's smiling face, my sibling's antics…

No…

~AurelPOV~

Dannielle told me that this might happen. From the few words I was able to have with her in that chatbox in the cramped internet café we stopped at in Vancouver, she told me that Glen would most likely start to fall into depression, though neither of us anticipated that it would happen mere moments after our conversation was cut off.

I had first come into contact with Dannielle a few years ago, saying that I would play an important role in freeing the world. Confused, she left me with that, but kept subtly reminding me of my supposed role.

Bear in mind that this was after Whitney and Rick had befriended our Coven while Glen was still less than three quarters though his first year.

I had no clue that Whitney was also in contact with Dannielle over the years, though in hindsight it makes sense.

I could feel the shift in the air around Glen as his mood turned more and more depressed. If what Dannielle said was true, and I had no cause to doubt her word as of yet, There would be no helping Glen until his denial wore off.

When that would happen, I didn't know, but I knew for certain that I would be there for him every step of the way.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 9 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	27. Holes in the Book of Knowledge

or those of you who are going to wonder when this chapter takes place, it happens Three days after chapters 14-16

Last week you guys gave me 9 reviews, come on! You were so close! Just six off! This week, this verse same as the first- 15 reviews for an extra update on Sunday, and trust me, some of you WANT this chapter.

SarahanjoMiller: The reason I'm able to post so fast is because of the short chapters. And that I have a small stockpile of chapters, but let's not talk about that.

DelSan 13: Sure hope you didn't embarrass yourself lol.

TeamSethLover: Glen... yeah. He'll get better, eventually. This type of thing is my specialty, the heavy emotional stuff that comes with death and related subjects, because I find it easier to convey sadness rather than glee. But anyways -spoilers- Glen's going to go through the 7 stages of grief, so yeah. Be prepared for more heavy from him. Aurel, well this last chapter was really just padded with his Awakening and backstory, and more fleshing out of Dannielle's character, kinda. But, essentially at this point in time, Aurel is to Glen what Dodge is to Ren and Jake is to Bella. Just under 2 years until they're reunited though, so look forward to that? Still have some obscure stuff to put the kids through first, and I would like to flesh Paul and Seth out a little more as well before pushing forward, but right now, Ren.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (6x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (26x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (15x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (12x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (9x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 26

~*~X~*~

~RenPOV~

The first few days after I 'phased' back, as my dad insists I call it, were the hardest. My entire wardrobe was literally reduced to my biggest pairs of sorts, which were still a few sizes too small.

Not only were just about all my clothes too small, such that I was close to just running around the house naked, but my anger had a hairpin trigger. When the tip of my pencil broke while I was doing the homework that was sure to pile up during this fiasco, I was suddenly extremely angry, shaking violently and seeing red. I barely had time to push away from the table before my body exploded into my furry form, the shreds of the extremely tight shorts flying everywhere along with the splinters of what was once the chair I was sitting in.

Dodge, who had been sitting by my feet before my sudden movement was staring at me with his head cocked to the side.

_"Why'd ya do that dad?"_ he barked. Welp, I can understand Dodge again.

"I didn't mean to…" I replied, first checking to make sure my homework was safe, which it was, before surveying the damage. The chair I'd been sitting in was now a pile of firewood and splinters, while the remains of my shorts were scattered throughout the room like confetti along with splinters. The force from my increase in mass had also knocked a few things over, but they were rather insignificant compared to the completely totaled chair. And the fact that there was a massive wolf now trapped in the dining room; I seriously doubted that I could fit through the doorways right now.

"Ren, where are you!" Dad shouted as he opened the doorway. Not knowing how to respond, I kept quiet. I whined as his footsteps came closer to the dining room, my ears flattening to my head as my dad appeared in the doorway, his eyes scanning the damage done by my phasing. I avoided making any sort of eye contact with him, noticing the bag in his hand that smelled of department stores. I assumed that it contained new clothes for my now larger frame.

Dodge, sensing my change in attitude also flattened his ears to his head and let his tail droop.

"I suppose it was an accident?" I nodded my head furiously "I guess it's just a byproduct of me not knowing any of the legends as closely as I should." He shrugged as he dropped the bag of clothes on the table, sitting down in a chair next to me, running his hands through the fur behind my ears.

A deep purr rumbled in my chest as I closed my eyes, leaning into my dad's touch. I suddenly understood why dogs liked getting their ears scratched- it feels _good_.

"Do you remember how you phased back?"

Who was he kidding, of course I remembered how after two days of trial and error I was finally able to phase back with the offhand thought of what my twin sister would think of me when I was all furry.

I hesitantly nodded, still not completely sure how thinking of my twin caused my return to humanity, only that it did.

"We still don't know way too much about this Ren." Dad sighed as he resumed his petting, only interrupted by my nodding.

We sat there for about an hour, in silence; my dad's hand moving against my head in that steady rhythm.

I finally felt calm when my dad broke the silence.

"You know, having you around is gonna be like when Dodge was a puppy."

I jerked my head away from his hand and glared at him, while Dodge immediately woke up from his nap at the sound of his name and stared up at my father. I can't begin to imagine how different our expressions could be, mine filled with annoyance while Dodge's filled with the playfulness that he always seems to radiate. "You know, always breaking stuff and getting into things he shouldn't…"

Okay, I had to agree, I saw the irony in this situation, but still. Why was he comparing me to my dog?

My dad, sensing my irritation left me to my dog while he left to make dinner.

The irritation wore off quickly though, as Dodge decided to snuggle into me before going back to sleep.

I couldn't help but mentally aw at how sweet my dog was. About a second after the mental aw, I was sitting on the floor, naked, Dodge curled up next to me.

I blinked twice. What did I do to make me phase back again?

What did my sister and my dog have in common?

As I sat in my birthday suit, I thought about the two times thus far that I'd phased back. What was there in common between the two?

I missed my sister, yes, but I also loved her, and just thinking about the few times I could remember we shared as kids made me smile. While everything about Dodge made me smile…

Wait.

Both times I'd gone from wolf to human, I'd thought of something that made me happy inside. That's what my sister and Dodge had in common—they both made me happy.

Smiling to myself at my little revelation, I grabbed the bag of clothes and retreated to my room, dumping the contents of the bag onto my bed.

Underwear like three sizes bigger, Shorts a few sizes bigger, shirts quite a few sizes larger, socks that just barely fit and slides that surprisingly fit.

As I slowly did the menial task of pulling the new clothes over my newly changed body, my mind wandered to how much my life would change now that I transformed into a wolf every time something happened, how I would be able to go to school again, or even just go to the store?

Then I realized, that I didn't even know how I phased in the first place. The first time, I was scared for my life and the second time I was irrationally angry because my pencil lead broke.

Argh! How long is it going to take to work out this whole wolf thing!?

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 15 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	28. Don't Question It

2 new review guys. really? only 2?

DelSan 13: Well I'm glad. I can answer both of your questions straight up- Ren and his dad don't know that Whitney died _in Italy_ because they're _in Canada._ Ren also phased that same weekend, so they're bust enough. There was also _no way_ for word to each them, besides via Dannielle, whom knows how much harder learning of his mother's death will hit Ren at the moment. No, they won't go to La Push. It's much too close to Bella, and the point of the siblings being separated in the first place was to spread them apart, so why would they suddenly change their minds and put two of them really close together?

Holy Cross Baby: I can't answer your question here, I'm sorry but if you would like it answered then just shoot me a PM. Thanks for the review.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (6x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (26x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (15x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (13x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (9x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 27

~*~X~*~

~RenPOV~

It's Monday, and our impromptu vacation made from teacher in service days is over.

And I'm not going to school.

I phased after I got home on Wednesday, and phased back that Friday around three. Since then I've been in and out of my wolf form more times than my dad or I cared to count.

Needless to say, I'm not going to school today, and probably not tomorrow either. The day after's a little iffy too. But, my dad and I think that we've figured out at least the basic mechanics of how this whole wolf thing works.

I phase when I'm angry and phase back when I think happy, calming thoughts. With the exception of when I first phased, that seems to be the trend.

Now you would think that it would be easy to avoid phasing; by not being angry. That's the problem, my anger spikes at almost anything now. Misplace my eraser, poof- wolf. Favorite character dies in a book, poof- wolf. Knock something off a shelf, poof-wolf. Food mushes together of its own accord, poof-wolf. The point is just about anything will cause a spike in anger.

I was never an angry person per say… Sure I had my fair share of schoolyard fights in elementary school, but I never got angry over nothing as I am now.

But beyond that, my stomach's a fucking black hole. I swear that I've eaten enough for over a dozen people over the last three days, hell I even ate a few sticks of butter last night as a midnight snack! I half expected it to taste disgusting, but I suppose anything tastes good when you have to eat constantly, though I feel bad for the massive spike in our food bill, only reminding me that I can't get a job and help my dad out while I can't control my wolf problem.

"We're going out Ren."

"What? Are you sure that's such a good idea?" I asked my dad "I mean with my _problem_?"

"Yep, get dressed and get out here."

I looked down at Dodge, who had lifted his head and was now looking at me with spiked ears and a confused, tilted expression.

I'm actually surprised that Dodge has taken all this as well as he has; all things considering, he should've ran away when I turned into a wolf and killed that bear, but despite his fear he stayed out of worry for me. Of everything he could've done, that he stayed and at least attempted to stand up to a wolf more than three times his size meant a lot to me. The added bonus to all this was that we've gotten closer, not that we weren't close before, but that now I had words to go with actions, as he did I, we understood each other much better now.

"Are you getting dressed Ren?"

I snapped out of my daydream at my father's call from the other side of the door. I'd taken to prancing around the house naked after the second time my hairpin trigger anger caused me to phase and tear apart the new clothes that dad got me, though they were a little tight, they weren't much tighter than I was used to wearing, being the jock-type at school. However, when dad wasn't at work, I wore just a pair of the too-tight shorts, for decency's sake.

"Where're we going dad?" I asked as I walked out of my bedroom in a t-shirt whose seams I'm sure were strained and shorts that actually kinda fit better than what I normally wore around the house.

"We're going to the zoo."

I looked at my dad like he was crazy. Why the hell would we go to the zoo?

"Don't look at me like that. So far we only have experience with your gift with Dodge. We need to see if it works with other animals too."

"But I can't phase in public dad, animal control'd be all over me in like ten seconds flat…"

"That's why I called in a few favors with someone I know at the zoo, whom your mother and I coincidentally lent money to during his vacation in France after his wallet was stolen during his honeymoon."

"How the hell does stuff like that just coincidentally happen?"

"Just don't question it son. Just know that you'll be able to walk around for a little bit behind the scenes during a 'staff party' that the manager's throwing."

Why do I not see this ending well?

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 13 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	29. I Hate the Zoo

Sorry this took so long to get out- the words just weren't flowing like usual this last week. Thanks for the 7 reviews last week, though you were 8 off the 15 required for a bonus chapter...

kouga's older woman: You don't have to beg, unless the story's ending, then you might have to beg... lol jk. 3

Holy Cross Baby: Yeah, mine too. But I do like writing Ren a lot.

DelSan 13: lol, both you questions are answered in this chapter.

TeamSethLover: Glen... yeah. All 3 groups have their problems, and his is depression... essentially. Ren probably won't be going to school for a while, for that very reason. His dad's smart enough to keep him out of the public eye until they botth know just what eaxactly they are dealing with, since Rick obviously doesn't know all the legends. You actually just gave me an Idea for the next chapter- thank you! Yeah, Ren, Rick and Bella will go through their own grieving as well, though it probably won't be as bad as Glen's, because when they find out they'll have each other to lean on, unlike Glen, who's essentially on his own with Aurel. And there might be another friendly vamp somewhere along the lines... maybe. Don't be ashamed of yourself, knowing me, the ages are probably wrong somewhere just below this so yeah... Just over 1 more year before they're brought back together. One more year...

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (6x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (28x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (15x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (14x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (10x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (2x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable. Also, I don't work at a zoo, so unless they actually are true, my interpretation of the 'backstage' of a zoo is most likely false.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 28

~*~X~*~

I officially _hate_ the zoo.

Or at least the exotic animals. And the spider house.

Oh my god.

As soon as we got in, my appearance earning us a few looks, we immediately started wandering in a long, circulous route around the maze of pathways and corridors, my ears open for anything I could understand.

Needless to say, I couldn't understand the giraffes, lions, koalas, or spiders.

It wasn't until we got to the more local wildlife that I started to feel more at ease, the tenseness of being in the other environments leaving my body.

My dad probably noticed my change in demeanor at that point, as he led me to the deer feeding station. As soon as we walked into the station, all the deer fled as far away from me as possible, or in otherwords back to the far corner of the enclosure, leaving everyone else to try and coax the creatures back with the offer of food that the deer refused.

I snickered to myself at the fact. They probably somehow sense that I was a wolf, could smell Dodge on me, or could smell that I was a wolf. That last seemed the most probable since Dodge had told me that I smelled different now that I had before.

We continued through the local wildlife exhibits, until we came to the gray wolf enclosure. As soon as I approached the glass, one of the wolves, which I'm assuming as the alpha, made a subtle motion with his head to one of the others, which slowly approached the glass and stared at me, his golden gaze tilted as he sniffed the air.

After a few minutes he barked and ran back to the others, who then came to the glass and mimicked the other's behavior, the only difference being the three little puppies, who had their tiny paws perched on the glass while barking their heads off, their whole backsides waggling with their tails.

"Looks like the wolves like you son." Dad told me humorously as he looked on at the pups who let's face it, were fucking adorable.

I felt this warm fuzzy feeling inside, and though I couldn't understand them, knew that the wolves felt some bond with me. Probably because they could smell the wolf on me.

The people around us were starting to give me strange looks, so I quickly pulled my dad away from the glass.

We meet up with the manager who owed dad a favor at lunch time, when the majority of the employees that worked in the local wildlife sector of the zoo were at the impromptu party that the manager had thrown, and my dad and I got smuggled through a well concealed door covered with false ivy amidst a brick wall covered with the real thing.

He lead us down the wide corridor, cluttered at the edges, until we were behind the enclosure for the wolves, where their 'den' was where they were fed away from the public's eye.

He bid us farewell, cautioning us to keep an eye out for the clean-up crew, before going back to the party.

Dad turned around to face the wall while I stripped all my clothes and phased.

The pups had already wandered into the makeshift den, and started getting excited when they saw me.

_"Look Kala, it's the wolf that scent belongs too!"_

_"Yay! Let's play with him!"_

_"Tokol, he's an adult, look at him."_ The three pups all looked up at me, their tiny heads bending back, almost comically so _"He probably has something to do…"_

_"You're such a spoil sport Xaka."_

"Hello?" I barked, watching as the pups' tiny pupils widened as they looked at me.

"Do you understand any of it?" dad asked me, causing me to break eye contact with the wolf pups.

I nodded my massive wolfy head.

"Just the wolves?"

I tried to listen past the wolf enclosure, just to hear the deer call as just that—deer calls. I nodded again.

"Can you understand anything else, maybe outside the natural wildlife exhibits?"

Again, I tried to listen beyond the immediate exhibits, maybe to the African savannah or Australian outback exhibits. Closing my eyes in order to focus more, I'm pretty sure my ears twitched when I heard something curse relatively close by—in an outback exhibit I think.

"Hear anything?"

I nodded, and listening for the cleaning staff, I silently padded towards where I alternately heard cursing and sweet nothings, amongst other things. The sounds were loudest when we came to the offshoot labeled 'Dingoes' not all that far from the edges of the natural wildlife exhibits.

"You can understand the Dingoes? What about the kangaroos or koalas?"

Humoring my dad again, I couldn't understand anything else in the immediate vicinity.

As my dad and I wandered back to where we'd hidden my clothes, I heard another pack of voices, a little beyond the gray wolves. Carefully picking my way towards the voices, I realized how I could have missed the voices during my initial sweep of the area—they actually sounded quite similar to the gray wolves' voices.

"Coyotes?" dad asked, noticing where we were moving towards.

I nodded my reply, stopping in my tracks at the sound of a member of the cleaning crew walking out of the coyote exhibit.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 15 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	30. Reminicent Love

Firstly, I am SO sorry that I didn't post a chapter last Friday. I can't come up with the words to express how sorry I am. But, this week I'll compensate- 10 reviews for the bonus chapter. Only 10!

Holy Cross Baby: If you didn't already know, I update every Tuesday and Friday.

kouga's older woman: THanks for that~~

TeamSethLover: The pups are coming back, don't worry. There is a trend, that's fairly obvious, but I'm not revealing it for the sake of leaving you wondering. Also, I never want to listen to a deer cry ever again.

DelSan 13: More about Glen will be revealed once I finish touching bases with Ren, but I can tell you that he's slowly falling into a depression which may or may not resolve itself. Yes, Ren will go back to school in time, and only Glen, Aurel, and Dannielle know about WHitney's death.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (6x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (29x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (15x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (15x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (3x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 29

~*~X~*~

~Rick POV~

When I first laid eyes on Whitney all those years ago, I could not believe that someone so beautiful, so ethereal, so goddess-like could exist among us. Compared to her, all other women were rag dolls being compared to the most beautiful Hina doll, perfectly sculpted and dressed in fine silks handcrafted with the utmost care.

I was born and raised on the Quileute reservation along side my younger sister. Our family wasn't rich by any means, but weren't poor either. My mother was a literature teacher at the reservation school and my dad was a carpenter, one of three on the reservation at the time. We could afford few luxuries, but we made it through okay.

It was expected of me to marry a reservation girl, I can still remember her name—Karya. An arranged marriage to a woman I barely knew as soon as I made a stable income, which would be only a few months after high school ended. Karya was beautiful, in her own way. Her skin was a few shades darker that the standard Quileute russet, her hair black and framing her face before covering everything between her shoulders to a few inches below her breasts in a solid curtain of black hair. However, she knew of her desirability, and flaunted it off to anyone with something between their legs.

I submitted myself to my fate a month after I finished high school, and started Working with my father, saving up for what would undoubtedly make my life a living nightmare, when I saw her. The combination of her fair skin and dirty blonde hair… something pulled me toward her, as if the spirits were pushing us together. When I met her green eyes for the first time, I was lost. In that moment, I knew that I would do whatever it took in order to be with that woman.

Conversation came easy between us, and I found out that her father was a wealthy Romanian businessman based in France while her mother was a famous fashion model and designer; as a result her family had more money than they knew what to do with. As soon as she graduated she departed on a trip around the world, and this just happened to be her stop before departing for the World's Fair.

After less than a week with each other, we professed our love to each other, and after being disowned by my family for rejecting Karya and falling in love with a _Hokwat_ we left for Japan, all my worldly in tow.

After we left the World's Fair, we wandered the world for a few years before finally returning to France, where I proposed on the Eiffel Tower with a ring I'd spent my life savings on. We were married within the year in Venice, at her father's insistence.

The next eight years that passed were among the happiest in my life, Whitney and I resumed our travels, and later met Dannielle when we eventually came back to the United States.

That next year was the hardest in my life. Both my parents were taken in the same night, by the same hand. In a murder-suicide, my father took the life of both my mother and himself.

My sister, Sasha told me that after I left dad just wasn't the same anymore. She could almost still hear the yelling matches they would have about me leaving; abandoning them my dad would say. My mother on the other hand defended me and my choice in love, for she saw Karya as the person she was and not as the strategic marriage it was meant to be—the union of Lahote and Black lines.

Sasha was lucky. She left before his mind deteriorates so quickly that even the most skilled doctors couldn't slow it. When it eventually bottomed out, he was on heavy pain medication, receiving treatment from the shaman daily, and had memory spanning a few hours.

It was thought that in a flash of irrational anger, he pulled the trigger twice. The first out of anger and the second once he realized what he had done.

I made some mistakes that visit that I'm not proud of, ashamed to even be thinking of them. I broke down, was drop-dead drunk more often than not, and slept around even though I was a married man. Whitney, being the understanding soul that she is, understood my pain and refused to let my actions put strain on our marriage. After the burial, we returned to France.

Five weeks to the day we arrived back on the Quileute Reservation, Whitney was sick. She didn't run a temperature or have swollen lymph nodes. She was the best kind of sick—she was pregnant with my child… our child.

Before the day when her blood tests confirmed that she was indeed pregnant, I'd never spared a thought to having children, the thought in fact terrifying me. I didn't want to turn out like my father and control them within an inch of their lives; I feared that my children would be distant from me as I was from my own father. But when the results came back positive, I couldn't help the surge of joy that built up within me. I felt like screaming to the whole of Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower that I was going to be a father. Granted, it would probably slip out in my native tongue- Quileute, but I wouldn't care. Instead of leaving my wife's side to scream to Paris that she was pregnant, I contained my excitement to the most passion filled kiss that we'd ever shared. Don't get me wrong, there were passionate kisses, but none more so than this one. I was so happy I was within a centimeter of kissing the doctor who delivered the news.

Whitney's sister became pregnant about two months later. The two became even closer than they were before, already planning first play-dates and family dinners.

Whitney went into labor in mid-July, only about a week before her due date—July thirty-first. On July twenty-fourth, in the early morning, Glen Marshal Lahote was born.

However, Whitney's sister went into labor, while standing by Whitney, comforting the soon to be mother. Nessa—Whitney's sister, was over a month early.

The doctors frantically tried to safely deliver the baby, but the umbilical chord got wrapped around the baby's neck in the process, forcing the doctors to perform an emergency cesarean section.

While Whitney was nursing Glen for the first time, Nessa was in surgery.

Nessa died in surgery mere moments before her child followed her mother. Baby Elizabeth probably wouldn't have survived long, the doctors explained to me when the broke the news to me and Ace.

He was rightfully devastated.

When I finally broke the news to Whitney the next day, she was just a devastated as he was.

Once Glen and Whitney could leave, we moved to Romania, back to one of their family's vacation homes in a nice small Romanian town not far from a large city. It was there that we raised Glen for just over a year before Whitney fell ill once again.

Whitney then started to develop a paranoia about cesarean sections, fearing that this baby would have to be cut out of her. When I offered that we could get the baby aborted, she shot me down right away. Though it hurt me to offer the solution, I knew that her fear was tormenting her worse that the thought of purposely offering to my child would torment me. Eight months later, on her exact due date, Isabella was born vaginally, and Ren via cesarean section.

I knew that the twins would be our last children; I was right. Whitney had a tubal occlusion as soon as she had recovered from the birth.

Up until our family was torn apart by necessity, we lived a happy life.

But that's all behind us now.

Right now I need to worry about my son, who inherited more from me than I thought possible.

My son was a Quileute Protector.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 15 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	31. Youth of the Wild

I'm so so so sososososososo sorry that I didn't update on Friday like I meant to. By the time I got around to thinking about it, it was already Saturday. So, as consolation, and as a sorry from me, if you all can give me 15 combined reviews from this last week until this coming Saturday, I'll give you the Sunday bonus chapter next week. So, only 11 more reviews for a bonus~~

Shay205: Not telling.

DelSan 13: Not telling you either. But yes, more tears will be shed once the others learn of this tragedy that was Whitney's death.

megan39: Nice to see you back, and glad you liked it~~

Holy Cross Baby: I felt like Rick needed a little backstory, and a seedling needed to grow a bit. Glad you liked it.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (7x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (29x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (16x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (16x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 30

~*~X~*~

~Ren POV~

I still don't know how dad and I managed to escape the worker. I do remember a few things though, in the mad rush to escape the lowly janitor.

As soon as we heard the door closing, we hurriedly took off in the other direction, ducking back into the room that contained the backdoor to the wolf enclosure… and my clothes. Great. Now I either have to hide naked with my dad or we have to hide a wolf.

"Get in." dad tells me, pointing to an open automated door to the enclosure—one of two doors that opened in succession to ensure that the enclosed animals don't escape.

Obediently, I walked into the cramped chamber while the door rotated around me, granting me access to the enclosure. As I gently padded onto the dirt floor, I looked back at my father, who was currently stuffing himself in the unlocked locker we had stashed my clothes in.

I could hear the footsteps of the janitor enter the room. I quickly laid down and acted like I was sleeping. I think the guy bought it, or at least until the pups all barreled into me.

Reluctantly lifting my head from my paws, I met the playful gazes of the pups.

"_See Xaka! I told you he'd play with us!"_

"_Why would he play with us Tokol? He's an adult."_

"_So?" _one of the pups asked, climbing onto my back.

How am I supposed to act? Would I just let the pups climb over me, or do I shake them off? I didn't have to make that decision, because the staff member quickly put a few things away in the locker right next to where my dad was hidden, before leaving the room. I whined to let my dad know that it was safe, but I also attracted the attention of some of the other wolves in the exhibit.

"_Who are you?"_ A female asked, as she sniffed around my balls.

My spine stiffened at the sudden coldness I felt, and at the thought that a female was sniffing me _down there_.

I could hear dad snickering on the other side of the glass. Turning my head, I glared at him while the female was still sniffing me.

I swear I jumped when she _licked_ me.

Using my tail as a guide, I slowly backed into the plexiglass room, nudging the pups away from me before my dad shifted the doors.

I phased back as soon as I I stepped out of the chamber.

"I _HATE_ the zoo." I snarled as I pulled my boxers on.

"You should've seen the way you looked son- it was rich!" dad laughed.

"Yeah, yeah. Suck it up. Why don't you try having someone sniffing you before _licking_ you."

"Son, I…" my dad started, obviously trying to calm down before breaking into a fit of laughter.

"I NEVER want to see a zoo ever again."

"Fair enough." Dad said as we walked out of a concealed exit and back into the 'front side' of the zoo.

During the car ride home, we put together what we knew so far about my special 'gift', beyond turning into a huge ass wolf whenever I got angry.

"So you understood the wolves, dingoes, and coyotes?"

"Yep." I replied "And don't forget Dodge."

"Of course." Dad nodded "Now what's the pattern?"

I couldn't answer the question. I guess we'd have some research to do once we got home.

~*~X~*~

"Hey Ren, I think I've got it!" Dad called at me from the dining area, where he had notes jotted down on a pad of paper next to his laptop.

I looked over his shoulder, clad in only my underwear—it's still the most comfortable thing for me to wear, so sue me.

In my dad's handwriting, I could decipher a few of his notes that were circled:

Grey wolf- canis lupus

Dodge- canis lupus familiaris

Dingo- canis lupus dingo

Coyote- canis latrans

Despite my dad's chicken scratch handwriting, I could tell that all four were all of the Canis genus, and three of them were different species of wolf.

"So, I can understand wolves and their relatives?"

"It would seem so."

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 11 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	32. Therapy for the Greiving

Time for a brief return to Glen before going back to Jake and Bella for, what may quite honestly be until the end of the story. Yay!

DelSan 13: This was meant to be more of a comic relief chapter than anything else. Glad it had that effect on you~~

megan39: see above ^

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (8x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (29x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (16x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (17x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-13 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

Disclaimer: I own nothing recognizable.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 31

~*~X~*~

~AurelPOV~

For our first stop at least, I got us a hotel room facing the Willamette River in the heart of Portland. I knew that in all likeliness, Glen wouldn't be up to much of anything, but I didn't think that it would be this bad. He barely touched his breakfast this morning, and so far he's been sitting in that tacky orange chair, staring out at the river all day.

His eyes have lost their luster, it's almost as if he's dead, but he's not. He's completely unresponsive, something I learned fairly quickly, but I'm certain that he can hear me, because he does react when I tell him important stuff, like needing to eat, sleep etc.

In all honesty, I'm surprised that he hasn't tried to throw himself out that window with the way he's acting.

I've been thinking about what might make Glen happy again, and thus far the only thing I've been able to think of is gymnastics—it's the one thing that he ever enjoyed doing the most in Italy, rivaled only by the parkour he did on the streets.

After a small amount of research, I found the only gym with gymnastics equipment in Portland, and another a little ways out of the city limits. A couple of phone calls later, I had us reservations for the gym the next day.

~Glen POV~

When I opened my eyes the next morning, I could hear Aurel shuffling through my bag. Rolling onto my side, I stared at Aurel, whom was, in fact, digging through my stuff, until he produced a pair of my athletic shorts and one of my wifebeaters along with my athletic tape.

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out. I haven't been able to speak, no, it's not that I've been rendered dumb, but… It's more that I haven't felt the urge to speak. I can't explain it.

Aurel, noticing my motion, turned towards me "We're going to the gym Glen. You can get dressed up here or there, your pick."

Reluctantly swinging my legs out of the all too soft hotel bed, I reached out my hand, to receive the clothing.

"Tape your ankles in the car then." Aurel said as he left the room with my gymnastics bag.

What brought this on? We've been in Portland for how long now, and he just decided to take me to a gym? I guess that mom…

I cringed as I thought of mom. She died to save me. I should've stayed behind, I could've protected her.

"You ready yet?" Aurel called from the other side of the bedroom door.

"N-no." I croaked. I blinked in surprise. That was the first time I'd spoken out loud in a long while.

"Then hurry up!" I could hear the smile in Aurel's voice.

I stripped my clothes and pulled on the simple black shorts and wifebeater as quickly as I could, pulling on a pair of black sweats and black socks on as well, grabbing the leather jacket my mom had ordered me a few years back. I cringed as the memory flooded into my mind, the smile on my mother's face as she gave me the expensive American-made jacket.

Walking out of the bedroom, I was greeted by Aurel holding my pure black sneakers.

"H-how…" I started, my voice scratchy as Aurel cut me off.

"I figured you'd go all black today, like you usually do when we go out."

Aurel was right—I hadn't noticed, but all the colors that I'd work while in Italy had been replaced by black.

Slipping the shoes on, I followed Aurel out to our car.

While we were driving, I was taping my ankles, and my mind wandered. What if I had stayed behind? Would mom still be alive?

"Whatcha thinking about there Glen?" Aurel asked, snapping me out of my haze.

I shook my head, clearing the thoughts from my head as I refocused on wrapping my ankles.

We entered the gym quickly, and I dusted my hands in chalk almost as soon as I stepped into the area.

Foregoing stretching was something I regretted as soon as I strung together a series of front flips. Pausing for a moment, I shed my sweats and socks, giving them to Aurel before going through my usual routine of stretching my arms first, followed by my legs and so on.

After a good fifteen minutes of stretching, Aurel perched himself on one of the numerous balance beams lining the open floor and watched as I strung together another series of flips.

It felt so good to be exerting my strength once again, and I soon moved onto the high bar. I flashed back to when I first started doing rotations around the high bar, and how I always used to get dizzy and feel sick, but now I could feel the adrenaline starting to pump through my veins again—it was giving me a complete and total rush.

And for the first time since we left Italy, I smiled.

It wasn't a big smile mind you, but it was a smile none the less.

Using my newfound exhilaration, I started to experiment with elements that I'd never tried before, switching from apparatus to apparatus as quickly and as often a a bee changes flowers.

I was having so much fun, that I didn't even notice the time as an attendant watched me appreciatively as I dismounted from the rings in a way that I's never had the courage to try before, which ended up in me overbalancing myself and falling flat on my ass, but I laughed it off as the lady eye-fucked me.

"We're closing in ten minutes, so you'd better start getting dressed."

As I slipped my sweats back on, I couldn't help but wonder how I could have gone so long without being in the gym, without the feeling of the white chalk on my hands.

But as we drove away, the sadness started to creep back in on me. Why was I alive when mom wasn't? Why was I having fun in the gym while she was dead halfway around the world?

The monotony of my online classes distracted me for a little bit, before I fell back into my little shell of silence.

Going to that gym became a daily routine, so much so that both Aurel and I got year-long memberships, though Aurel never did anything, just watching me.

After a few months, a man in a black suit sat on the edge of the gym, watching me. What was strange was that the man showed up a week after I'd made friends with a fellow gymnast who also frequented that gym. As I thought harder on the subject, I couldn't shake the feeling that I recognized the gymnast from somewhere before.

When I was about to break for lunch, the man approached me.

"Hello, I'm Jack Nelson of the United States National Gymnastics association, and one of the team members recently noticed you and sang his praises. I Haven't seen your face around here last time I was scouting, are you new to the area?"

"We just moved here a few months ago." I hesitantly answered.

"Ah, that explains it. The last time I scouted here was probably before you moved here. So, where'd you move from?"

"Italy." I'd thought my accent would give it away, but then again, it is a weird blend of Romanian and Italian…

"Italy? Why the big move?"

"I, uh…" I stuttered, tripping over my words, but luckily, Aurel came to save the day.

"His mother died shortly before they were to move here together. We moved forward with the move in order to get away from the pain."

"And you are…?"

"His cousin."

"If you don't mind me asking, how old are you two?"

"I'm nineteen and he's seventeen." Aurel responded. I was grateful that he was leading this guy astray.

"Well, even though you're a little young Mr…"

"Glen, Glen Lahote." Me name slipped from my lips.

"Well Mr. Lahote, the National Men's Gymnastics team would like to extend to you a formal invitation to try out." Mr. Nelson pulled a crème colored envelope from inside his suit, handing it to me "All the information you'll need is inside this envelope. Even if you don't feel like trying out for the team at the moment, keep in touch. From what Jessi told me, you have some impressive talent."

Shocked beyond words, I stared after the man in the suit as he walked out of the gym.

Holy crap. I was just invited to try out on the National Team, and I had only been on US soil for not even half a year.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, if there are 9 new reviews by Saturday, I'll post another chapter on Sunday~~


	33. It's Prom Time!

Hey you guys! I'm sosososososo sorry that I didn't get to updating on Friday like I promised, but I have a BIG announcement to make. I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo starting tomorrow, so my writing time will me eaten up by my novel. However, I will make enough time to write at least one chapter a week, but this also can not be guaranteed 100%. I will try and update every Sunday during the Month of April, and we'll see where we go from there m'kay?

DelSan 13: Gymnastics is Glen's main method of keeping his mind off his mother's death, but bear in mind that he still has all his depression bottled up, which -is- going to come out later. As for him trying out, keep in mind that he's only 17 and most of the members are in their 20's (I think...) also, take note to the dude's reaction to Glen's age.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (8x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (29x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (16x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (18x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-14 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

~*~X~*~

Chapter 32

~*~X~*~

~A few Months Later~

~JakePOV~

Sure, it was embarrassing to be the male half of the couple and have to be driven to Prom, but I didn't care—I was going to PROM with my Bells… woah, where'd that come from? Well anyways, Dad let Bells borrow our newer truck, the old, worn down red Ford being in the garage getting repairs from Quil, Embry and I during the weekends when Bella wasn't tutoring us. I'm planning on giving it to her for her birthday this year.

I looked at Bella again, her eyes on the road. If my memory isn't failing me, then this is the first time she's driven without Charlie in the car with her. Despite the serious look on her face, she was still the most beautiful thing I'd ever seen, her profile the picture of perfection—her nose not too big, but not too small either, and her lips just full enough that you could quite obviously see when she was biting her bottom lip, but not so big as to dominate her face.

I caught Bella's chocolate brown eye in my own, and I quickly broke eye contact, adjusting the collar of my black dress shirt that suddenly felt too tight. I didn't even bother trying to tie the tie my dad bought me, the pattern of deep greens sitting in my lap.

"So, Jake…"

My head snapped towards Bella, who was looking at me out of the corner of her eye asshe pulled into the Forks High parking lot.

"Why's your tie sitting in your lap?"

"I, uh…" I stuttered as I felt blood rushing into my cheeks as my gaze wandered down to Bella's emerald green knee-length one-shouldered cocktail dress.

"Didn't you ask Billy to tie it for you?"

I felt my cheeks growing even redder, if that were at all possible. I had asked my dad if he could tie it for me, but he said and I quote '_Get your date to do it for you'_

"Give it Jake." Bella sighed, taking my tie from my lap and tying it around my neck with deft fingers. After she straightened it, she backed up in the cab, and I saw something flash across her eyes—an emotion that I couldn't quite identify.

"W-what?" I stuttered, the blush not even close to fading.

"Y-you look… s-so handsome J-Jake…" Bella stuttered, her face turning all sorts of red.

"Th-thanks…"

A couple minutes passed in a comfortable silence, before I broke the quiet.

"Are we going to go in?"

Bella nodded once, producing our tickets from her purse before we both got out of the car at the same time, walking around the hood to meet each other in front of the car.

I wrapped my arm around her waist as we walked towards the cafeteria doors, to get our picture taken first then join everyone else on the dance floor.

Unlike Homecoming or Tolo, the picture booth was in a separate classroom, the backdrop and flashes set up just so, that no undesirable shadows were cast across anyone's faces. When it was our turn, I noticed that there were cut-outs framing us set in front of us, and looking back on the backdrop as we exited, I noticed that it was a forest, probably a scene taken from the nearby Olympic Forest National Park.

When Bella and I stepped out of the classroom, we were immediately assaulted with the loud bass booming from the cafeteria down the hallway. As we got closer and closer to the source of the noise, Bella came closer and closer to me, until she was tucked into my side. I didn't mind—it actually felt like she should be there, as if she fit perfectly into my side.

Bella and I had barely spent ten minutes in the cafeteria before her classmates found her and dragged us back to the photo room for a group picture. Once the pictures were finally over, Bella and I just talked with her friends until she was dragged onto the dance floor by the one who wouldn't shut up—Jessica I think.

When the song changed sharply from Nikki Minaj's "Starships" to "Viva la Vida" by Coldplay, Bella sent me a desperate glance as everyone started partnering up. Quickly saving my girl from the other guys, I brought Bella into my arms, and just started slowly swaying in stark contrast to everyone around us, who was moving more to the faster beat of the song. I was so absorbed in Bella, that I didn't notice when the song changed to "Thousand Years", and the couples started slow dancing while the rest filtered off to the sides of the room.

It wasn't until I noticed that we weren't bumping into as many bodies that I looked up, to see that the couples still dancing to the slower song were mostly upperclassmen, hell they were _all_ upperclassmen except for Bells and I.

I think Bells noticed that most of everyone's attention was on us. I bent over and whispered into her ear "There's going to be a bonfire on the beach in about an hour, if you want to go."

I felt rather than saw Bella nod against my chest, her face buried in my newly obtained muscles that seemed to sprout seemingly overnight.

When the song shifted to "Dynamite" I guided Bella to one of the empty chairs lining the walls and left to get us some punch from the refreshments stand.

When I came back, I couldn't believe what I saw. Edward had his tongue down Bella's throat, and she wasn't fighting back.

As soon as her eyes met mine, they widened and she tried to push Edward away, but he didn't budge.

I started seeing red. This was the second time he had stolen my Bells away from me, and he wasn't even supposed to be here!

Once I was within a few paces of them, Edward finally broke away from Bella and gave me a wide smirk before disappearing into the crowd.

"J-Jake, I… I th-think I want to leave now."

I gave a stiff nod before stalking out of the cafeteria, Bella right behind me.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, the more reviews there are, the more compelled I'll be to update~~


	34. Overflowing Rage

Hey guys, here's your update for this week- I just couldn't wait to get this chapter to you guys, so here it is!

In other news, I'm currently sitting in a hotel room in Forks while updating, and I have to say, the mental image that the books and movies paint is FAR from what the real Forks looks like. In my opinion, the nly place given justice in the movies is First Beach, though the way it's depicted, it looks much more like Second Beach. Well, anyways, I'm happy to be in Forks before the Twilight craze dies down, and I expect this experience will change how I view the books.

DelSan 13: Uh, why don't you tell me. I think that I've made it kinda obvious what the answers to your questions are, but maybe I'm mistaken...

4evernaya: What?

TeamSethLover: The original union would have been Rick Lahote and Karya Black, which would have had no bearing on Jacob and Bella's relationship, as neither Billy nor Rick are the type of people to put on an arranged marriage, Billy because he knows Bella like his own daughter and Rick because of his experience with his father. Kayra will be coming back eventually, but she will remain just a minor character. I'm honestly surprised that no one's asked who Ace is yet, but he's Nessa's husband, just so ya know. That wolf, yeah... I do know that it's common among canines to sniff each other's rear ends in greeting, and the licking was really just for comic relief. As for it just being the female, she's the pups mother, so by chasing after the pups she found Ren and yeah. AS for Ren's gift, yes- wolves and their relatives, or more specifically members of the genus _Canis_. I wish that I even had a small ferocious puppy... Glen hasn't actually gotten on the national team yet- he was invited to try-out, though for all intents and purposes that can't happen because he's only 17, and still in high school. No no, feel free to tell me what you first thought. I'm glad that there's confusion and that you're starting to connect the dots. Though sometime, and I don't know when, I'mm be connecting the dots in the story. Aurel, yes. I will admit that Aurel is a self-insert of sorts (though he -is- a vampire). Yes, Billy's advice is amazing as is Jacob. I was laughing so hard when I read your last review- it brightened up my day. Explaining will be done in this chapter, and just so you know, Ren's the only one who has phased thus far. Camp NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a month long exercise in noveling. The goal is to write a 50000 word novel in one month. NaNoWriMo takes place in November, but there are two non-November sessions as well, thi year taking place in April and July. I would never abandon you guys for a year, I hate it when authors do that to me, and I tend to follow the Golden Rule pretty closely. Much Love~~

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (8x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (33x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (16x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (19x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x), 4evernaya  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-15 (Sep)  
Ren*-15 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake-14 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-14 (Mar)  
Embry-14 (Dec)  
Seth-13  
Leah-15  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

* indicated that the person has phased

Disclaimer: I in no way own the Twilight Saga or am making money off this work of fiction.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 33

~*~X~*~

~Bella POV~

The drive to First Beach was silent, and not the comfortable silence that we had shared before the dance; on the contrary, this silence was completely awkward and filled with Jake's radiant anger.

When we had finally reached the beach, the angry tension in the cab of the truck was almost unbearable.

"Jake I…"

"Don't. Just, don't." Jake said as he opened his door and got out, stalking towards the pile of wood that had already been gathered.

My heart ached as I watched Jake walk away from me with all his rage in his step. I don't even understand why he's so angry, I mean yes, I kissed Edward, but it wasn't by choice! Edward just walked up to me and kissed me! I was in so much shock that it didn't even come into my mind to push him away.

I slowly followed Jake, my head down as I dragged my feet through the sand.

Jacob, seeing my approach stalked off down the beach, picking up driftwood as he went. I let out a soft sigh as I sat down on a driftwood log and stared out to the ocean, watching as the sun slowly descended closer and closer to the waves.

It was when the sun was starting to touch the blackened waves that I started to worry about Jake—he still hadn't come back; it had to have been at least an hour by now. Starting to worry now, I stood up and walked down the beach, the gazes of the gathered QUileutes burrowing into my skin as I walked in the direction Jake had left in.

~Jacob POV~

When I saw that Bella had followed me out to the beach, my mind filled with rage; why was she following me!? Never mind the fact that she was technically responsible for getting me home tonight.

Not trusting myself to be within ten feet of her at the moment, I stalked off down the beach under the guise of collecting firewood. However, at some point along the way, I abandoned the driftwood I had gathered and settled in the sand, not even sparing a thought for the black pants dad had bought special for Prom. I had since changed out of the dress shoes and had gone barefoot, as it was much cleaner than wearing sneakers on the beach.

I don't know for how long, or how far I walked when I finally sat in the sand, but as I sat, I thought. Why would Bella just _let_ Edward kiss her like that? I know for a fact that that was her first kiss, and he just took it from her… stolen it!

It wasn't until I heard soft footsteps approaching me that I came back to Earth and looked at the sky. The sun was just beginning to meet the sky.

Looking towards the direction that the footprints, I was surprised to see the figure walking towards me about fifty feet off—how the hell could I hear their footsteps… Wait, that's Bella. How the hell can I tell it's Bella?

The anger I'd felt in the truck had since subsided, but it was back in full force now. I stood up and turned away from her, stalking off in the opposite direction.

"Jake!" I heard her yell as her footsteps got quicker in succession.

I ignored her and kept on walking.

"Jake!" Bella cried out, before I heard her trip. Oh how I wanted to run by her side and ask if she was all right, but I couldn't.

Bella got up and continued running towards me, catching up to me after less than five minutes.

"Jake, I…"

"Bella, don't."

"Jake, I'm sorry—Edward, he…"

"Don't even say his name." I snapped, turning on my heels to glare at Bella. I could feel my body starting to shake.

"Please, Jake…"

"Don't even talk to me."

Bella's eyes widened, and she was silent for a heartbeat before that, standing perfectly still. I then stood up to my full six-foot height, before Bella reached up and grabbed my shoulders, pulling my face down to meet her lips.

My heart pounded in my chest as her lips remained connected to mine.

When she broke the connection between our lips, I saw red. First she kissed _Edward_ and now she kisses me?

I saw Bella take a few steps backward, her eyes filled with fear as I clenched my fists.

I could feel my anger boiling inside of me; an intense heat shot up and down my spine, quickly diffusing all over my body into the most painful feeling I'd ever felt, but the pain was numbed with anger, the excessive rage not allowing my pain to show. I started hyperventilating, my body shaking violently.

"J-Jake, what's wrong?"

I exploded.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, the more reviews there are, the more compelled I'll be to update~~


	35. Fido's Comfort

I'm back home form Forks, and am finally getting around to updating! Sorry it's taken so long, but better late than never, right?

Please remember that how often I update during this month is dependent on the reviews I receive, as I am participating in Camp NaNoWriMo this month.

DelSan 13: Yes, Bella was in fact relatively close to Jacob when he phased. I took quite a few pictures of the beaches over there. It's wonderful out there.

shay205: Now you can find out!

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (8x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (33x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (16x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (20x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x), 4evernaya  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-16 (Sep)  
Ren*-16 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake*-15 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-15 (Mar)  
Embry-15 (Dec)  
Seth-14  
Leah-16  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

* Indicates that the person has phased

Disclaimer: I in no way own the Twilight Saga or am making money off this work of fiction.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 34

~*~X~*~

~Bella POV~

After I asked Jake what was wrong, I immediately regretted ti, because he lunged at me so quickly and so suddenly that I fell backwards in the sand, my arms covering my face until I heard angry growls that quickly transformed into pained whimpers. Since when were there dogs around me and Jake?

When I uncovered my eyes, the sight before me shocked me. Instead of seeing Jake, in front of me was a beautiful Russet colored wolf surrounded with scraps of the clothing Jake had been wearing, the only article of clothing still in one piece being Jakes tie.

I hesitantly looked up at the wolf's face, and as it thrashed it's head about, I saw its' eyes—it had Jakes' eyes.

Not sparing a thought that the animal in front of me was a wolf the size of a small horse, I stood up.

"Jake?" I hesitantly questioned.

The wolf stopped thrashing its head and looked at me, the same deep brown eyes I knew so well meeting my own. He froze as his eyes widened, our gazes locked on each other.

I took a few hesitant steps toward the wolf I suspected was Jake, waiting to see its reaction. When our gazes were finally broken, he lowered his head, flattened his ears to the top of his head and let out a long and pained whine. Gathering the courage to approach the beast, I moved next to the wolf and strung my fingers in his mane of fur.

He lifted his head and looked at me, pressing his muzzle into my hair before taking a long sniff. A contented rumble came from his chest before he rubbed his muzzle against my cheek.

"Jake?" I asked again, moving my hands to the massive beasts head.

He nodded, and I threw my arms around his neck, sobbing into his thick fur.

"What happened to you Jake?"

~Jacob POV~

Oh. My. God.

What the hell happened to me?!

I know I was yelling at Bella, but what did I do to deserve this? What did I do to deserve turning into a giant dog in front of Bella?!

My heart was pounding out of my chest as Bella's voice pierced the chaos that was the inside of my head. "Jake?"

I turned my head to face her, my eyes meeting her chocolate brown ones. As I stared into her eyes, I felt the ground fall out from beneath me, the surrounding beach blurred into darkness as all I could see was Bella. Bella looking back at me. Bella walking towards me. Bella saying something… What was Bella trying to ask me?

The scenery quickly came back into focus as reality slowly came back into my mind. "Jake?"

Not knowing how else to answer, I nodded my head.

Right after I nodded, Bella threw her arms around my neck, and started sobbing into my fur. A huge rush of love and compassion and worry swept over me as her tears soaked my fur. "What happened to you Jake?"

I couldn't answer that myself. I felt the need to say _something _though, so I did. Or tried to at least.

The sound that came out of my mouth wasn't human speech—instead it was a very dog-like bark that made both Bella and I jump. A spike of a sourish scent hit my nose, that I immediately identified as fear, though I have no clue just how I did know that it was fear-scent, or that it came from Bells.

Feeling the need to comfort her, I bent my head forward, returning her embrace as best I could, given my _situation_.

"Jake, I'm so sorry for what happened with Edward, I swear he just came onto me, I didn't know what to do… "

I could feel Bella's distress as she sobbed into my fur, and I wanted to comfort her, but I didn't know what else to do beyond what I was already doing. So I racked my brain for what I'd seen dogs do with their owners, when I got an idea.

Whining before wiggling my head from Bella's grasp, I pulled back and gently nudged Bella's head up to look at me. Once I met her gaze, I leaned forward and licker her cheek, though I may have misjudged how wide my tongue was, because when I pulled back, there was a glistening trail of my slobber covering half of Bella's face.

"Ew, Jake!" she groaned, halfheartedly swatting a hand at my muzzle while the other hand moved to wipe off her face.

I gave her what was felt like a smile while tilting my head sideways like I'd seen a few dogs do. Laughing, Bella wrapped her arms around my neck again and sighed into my fur. This time resting my head on her shoulder, I too sighed.

We stood there for what seemed like forever, until I felt Bella shiver and pull away from me. Confused as to why she would pull away if she were cold, I wrapped my long body around her and rubbed my face against hers.

"Jake…" she sighed, digging her fingers into my fur.

It felt good, now I can see why dogs always want people to pet them. When Bella stopped rubbing my fur, I turned to look at her, my head cocked in a silent question of _"Why did you stop?"_

"Were you even listening to a thing I said Jake?" Bella asked me. She was asking me something? She sighed. "Jake, how are we going to get you back home? You can't go to Billy's like you are."

That was a good question—how was I supposed to go back home? Dad would probably shoot me when he saw me, and Charlie most definitely would. I didn't even know if I was stuck like this for good or not.

"I think there was a tarp in the back of the truck, I probably could sneak you back into the woods… DO you think you'll be able to survive outside?"

I felt my eyes widen. So I wasn't going to have anymore of Bella's cooking? Would I have to survive on raw meat for the rest of my life?

"Don't worry about food and blankets and stuff Jake, I'll make sure you're fed and warm…" she mumbled, running her fingers through my fur again. A contented rumble bubbled from my chest as my eyes shut of their own accord.

When I felt Bella stop petting me, I looked at her questionably.

"Come on Fido, we need to get you home."

_Fido_?!

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, the more reviews there are, the more compelled I'll be to update~~


	36. Goodnight Wolf

Hey guys, here's another update~~

Also, I posted a LeahXSam oneshot yesterday, so go check it out if you're interested.

Shay205: Thanks!

DelSan 13: Your questions should be answered in the next few chapters I think?

TeamSethLover: THat review wasn't too long, not at all~~ (still funny too) and on to your questions... Sam and the rest of the pack still haven't phased yet, as of this point only Jake and Ren have phased (You'll be able to tell who has phased and who has not by the asterisks in the age thingamajig), as a result Sam still hasn't injured Emily or broken up with Leah. So as for where they are, let's just say not there. Someone WILL notice Jake phasing, but not for a while. Well actually in a few chapters, but no non-supernatural creature will notice for a while. Love your nemae for Edward, and your review was fun to read, thanks.

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (8x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (35x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (17x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (21x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x), 4evernaya  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-16 (Sep)  
Ren*-16 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake*-15 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-15 (Mar)  
Embry-15 (Dec)  
Seth-14  
Leah-16  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

* Indicates that the person has phased

Disclaimer: I in no way own the Twilight Saga or am making money off this work of fiction.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 35

~*~X~*~

~Jacob POV~

I don't know much about the ride back to Bella's house, but getting me in and out of dad's truck was a production in and in of itself.

First, I had to get into the truckbed without being seen, or else we'd risk someone calling animal control and then me getting stuck with needles or worse. We eventually decided on walking just inside the treeline back to the parking lot, where Bella then drove a short distance before pulling over and dropping the tailgate for me to climb in. Once I was situated in the bed of the truck, I felt Bella moving something that I'd never felt before.

Alarmed, my head shot up and looked back to where Bella was moving my tail to the side.

"Sorry Jake, but the tailgate won't close with your heavy tail on it." She said innocently.

Oh God. I know where my horny teenage brain is going with that. Don't think Jake. Bella didn't mean it like that…

I jumped again when I felt something cold settle across my fur, causing my eyes to shoot to Bella's almost immediately.

"I have to cover you with the tarp Jake; it would give half the town a heart attack if I just drove around with a horse sized wolf in the bed."

I nodded slightly and settled my head between my paws, before Bella covered me up with the blue tarp, taking care to keep my face uncovered. She tucked the corners of the tarp under my legs, probably to secure it, before closing the tailgate and getting in the cab.

I kept my head pressed as close to the cold metal truckbed as I could, watching the treetops move by at speeds that should have made me sick, but instead I could see each trees' outline crystal clear; I could hear the grumble of the trucks' engine and the slight tapping of the moving parts, I could smell the deer that fled at the sound of the truck and the chipmunk that just daringly ran across the road.

My senses were on complete overload, and I let out an involuntary whimper as I closed my eyes, trying to shut out all these new sensations.

"Jake? Are you all right?" Bells asked, opening the small sliding window in the back of the cab a bit, slowing down as she did so.

Her scent immediately washed over me, calming my sensory overload—shutting out all the new scents and replacing it with Bella's sweet scent, which at the moment was laced with worry; Worry that I instinctively knew was directed at me. I whined back something that hopefully sounded like 'I'm okay' but probably didn't sound anything like it. Bella seemed satisfied, because she turned back around and kept on driving.

When the truck finally came to a stop, I felt Bella drop the tailgate. She giggled when my tail straightened out from the uncomfortable position it was in, shoved against the side of the truck, to settle on the now open tailgate. Bella quickly pulled the tarp off me and ushered me into the woods behind her house.

As I jumped out of the truckbed, the old girl groaned, so loud that I was worried the sound would wake Charlie, whom was asleep by the even pattern of his breathing, which was interrupted for a few moments before going back to its' regulated pattern.

I waited by the truck, blatantly refusing Bella's efforts to shoo me into the woods until she closed the tailgate, and retrieved something from the cab. Bella walked by my side into the woods, keeping her unoccupied hand twined into my fur.

Once we were under the cover of the trees, she pulled away from me. Confused, I turned to look at her.

In her hands she held the tie I was wearing at Prom. I guess it survived because the knot came undone when I exploded? I don't know and frankly I don't care. All I know is that she was tying it around my front leg.

Giving her a confused look, she produced an answer "It's so I know it's you and not some other wild animal."

Though it stung a bit to hear her compare me to a wild animal, I couldn't believe that she would be able to confuse me for one.

Giving her a disbelieving look, she swatted at my muzzle "Shut up Jake." She whined, before turning and walking back towards her house.

I whined and padded up next to her, nuzzling her face with mine. She brought her hand up to rub my face for the duration of a few strokes, before pushing me away.

"I'm going to get you some blankets Jake. Don't worry, I'll be back."

As I watched Bella disappear through the backdoor of her house, I felt panic start to well up inside me. Not from the fact that I had just turned into a horse-sized dog, though that should be the source, but instead from the fact that I couldn't see Bella. Every second dragged on longer and longer as my panic compounded itself.

It felt like hours when she came back out, even though it was probably more like five minutes. With her arms full of blankets covered in her scent, the panic that had built up inside of me dissipated almost immediately.

I laid down almost immediately, my movement followed closely by Bella draping the blankets over my massive form with care, ensuring that everything but my head was covered.

"Goodnight Jake." Bella said, and hesitated for a moment as I whined, before leaning forward quickly and giving me a peck on the nose before quickly darting off back towards the house.

Even in the dark I could see her blush climbing up her neck.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, the more reviews there are, the more compelled I'll be to update~~


	37. Cause He Totally Got Kidnapped

bitondrahoward: Thanks!

DelSan 13: Juicy? Yes! So much juice that you won't know what to do with it all mwahahahaha! lol. The how's not going to be explained for a while yet (if at all) and the morning after is this chapter and the next, along with a steady stream of juice from this fruit for the next few chapters (I think). Thanks for the review~~

megan39: Yep, after all, it's still the same ole Jake, just a little furrier... lol. Questions answered in this chapter!

brankel1: Thanks!

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (9x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (35x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (17x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (22x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x), 4evernaya, bitondrahoward, brankel1  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-16 (Sep)  
Ren*-16 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake*-15 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-15 (Mar)  
Embry-15 (Dec)  
Seth-14  
Leah-16  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

* Indicates that the person has phased

Disclaimer: I in no way own the Twilight Saga or am making money off this work of fiction.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 36

~*~X~*~

~Bella POV~

My eyes snapped open at Charlie's shout from downstairs. "ISABELLA!"

Any hope I had at ignoring him were shot when Charlie stomped up the stairs and slammed my door open, the sudden light flooding the room waking me completely.

I groaned softly as I sat up, the sheets falling from my still half asleep body. "What Charlie?" I asked, sleep still lacing my voice.

"You know what Miss Lahote." Charlie stated, glaring at me, the glare so intense that if they were even as dull as ball bearings, I would have two very prominent holes in me.

"Uh, refresh my memory?"

"Jacob. You were responsible for getting him home after Prom. Billy just called and do you know what he just said?"

"N-no?"

"Jacob still isn't home. It's three in the morning, and you're here. Where. Is. Jacob."

"I don't know Charlie, I…"

"Where the hell is Jacob, Isabella."

"I don't know!"

"Why not?"

"He didn't want to ride with me back to his house!" I blurted. The truth would get me committed, that I know.

"So you left him at school? How could…"

"No, at the bonfire!"

Silence descended between us, I could literally see the cogs turning in Charlie's head as he processed the information that I just gave him.

Horror then crossed Charlie's face as he drew a conclusion that I was sure neither of us wanted, and that I knew for a fact wasn't true.

"Jake must've been kidnapped…" Charlie mumbled quietly, his eyes slowly going out of focus as he stared right through me.

Yep, there it was. That's gonna be our cover story. Now I just need to tell Jake…

"I need to call Billy, I need to report this, we need to start searching…" Charlie mumbled to himself as he left my room, leaving me alone to contemplate the web of lies that I was about to get tangled in.

Charlie and Billy are going to think I left Jake at First Beach because he got so angry at me that he didn't want to get a ride with me back to Billy's, and then got kidnapped on his way home; when in all reality he was in the woods behind my house, a beautiful horse-sized wolf that was once my best friend, and if I was completely honest with myself, I was in love with him. Though, that love was dominated by the sibling bond I also shared with him. I think. I'm not sure anymore. It's all too much.

I slowly climbed out of bed, shutting my door and turning off the light before returning to the warmth under the sheets.

How am I going to act like my best friend, I think, was kidnapped when I know for a fact exactly where he is?

~Jake POV~

I woke up with a start to Charlie's yelling, and the Swan house lit up like a lighthouse cutting through fog.

"ISABELLA!"

I hesitantly walked to the edge of the woods in time to see Bella's light go on suddenly and hear Bella moan lightly as her sheets rustled as they fell off her.

As Charlie yelled at Bella, I felt a growl building in my throat with each accusation he threw at her, some buried protective instinct surfacing.

I did, however, catch that Charlie thought I was kidnapped. Great. Something else Bella's going to have to lie about. I mean, me being mad at her was true, and not wanting to go home with her was also partly true, as was the fact that I would've walked home. But being _kidnapped_? That is a complete and total lie.

But, how else could we explain my disappearance short of telling everyone I turned into a giant dog?

Charlie left the house and got in the cruiser shortly after coming to the conclusion that I was kidnapped.

I could hear the sheets rustling in Bella's room, before the sound of bare feet padding on the hardwood floors replaced the movement of her sheets. I stayed absolutely still as Bella walked out the back door in her bare feet, rapidly approaching the treeline.

I whined as soon as she was within earshot, and Bella turned her head towards me.

"Jake?"

I whined again, causing her to run towards me, wrapping her arms around me as soon as she reached me.

"Oh Jake…" she mumbled as she pressed her face into mu fur.

I felt a low rumble build in my chest, which escaped before aI could choke it down.

"I don't know what to do Jake" Bella cried "I don't want Charlie and Billy to worry about you, but we can't show them the truth either; one of them would surely shoot you."

A rush of love almost instantly welled up inside of me at the fact that Bella cared enough about me wellbeing that she would lie in order to keep me safe.

I gently pulled away from Bella, who just stood in place, her head down, tears streaming down her cheeks. I whimpered before gently licking her face.

"Jake…" she sobbed, her arms wrapping around my neck yet again, pulling me towards her. I somehow knew that she wouldn't be able to move me unless I let her, but she needed to have some semblance of control at the moment.

How do I know that?

I sighed the canine equivalent of a sigh as Bella's fingers twined themselves in my fur, her face pressed in my neck, her tears saturating my fur.

After a while, Bella's sobs started to die down, and she began to sway on her feet. I knew she musts be tired. I wiggled out of her grasp, and nudged her chin gently with my muzzle to get her to look up at me. I locked eyes with her, trying to convey the deep love I felt for her without words.

Through tear-streaked eyes, Bella returned my gaze, allowing me to see her love for me reflected below her sadness. Oh how I wish I could just take all her pain away, if only to see that spark in her eyes that was ever present when we were together before Tolo.

I placed a small lick on her cheek, expecting her to scold my for slobbering on her, but instead she kissed the end of my snout.

Another gush of love erupted inside me, before I noticed Bella's swaying getting worse. She needed to get to bed.

In a game of charades, I managed to turn her around and send her back towards the back door, left ajar in Bella's haste to see me.

With Bell's scent still hanging in the air, I settled on the forest floor, keeping my eyes open until I heard Bella's breathing even out. Only then did I fall asleep, the view of her window, her steady heartbeat and her steady breaths lulling me into unconsciousness.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, the more reviews there are, the more compelled I'll be to update~~


	38. Old Dreams Come True

Another chapter for y'all~~

I'm back from Camp NaNoWriMo and ready to start writing and updating again~~

SaveMe2017: Thanks!

DelSan 13: We'll see if Billy finds out...

brankel1: Thanks!

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (9x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (35x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (17x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (23x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (4x), 4evernaya, bitondrahoward, brankel1 (x2), SaveMe2017  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-16 (Sep)  
Ren*-16 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake*-15 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-15 (Mar)  
Embry-15 (Dec)  
Seth-14  
Leah-16  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

* Indicates that the person has phased

Disclaimer: I in no way own the Twilight Saga or am making money off this work of fiction.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 37

~*~X~*~

~Ren POV~

Dad and I were in a buffet when I felt an odd tingle in the back of my mind.

"You okay son?" Dad asked, putting a concerned hand on my shoulder.

"Yeah… I think." I trailed as I piled another few chicken legs on my already full plate, piled high with just about everything the buffet had, chicken, beef, potatoes…

The tingling feeling went away for a few minutes, just long enough for me to get back to the table dad and I were both seated at, the open blinds allowing for an unobstructed view of the crescent moon.

As soon as I bit into the first chicken leg, the tingling sensation returned, this time in my spine.

"Son, you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah…" I gritted out, forcing my spine to relax as I slowly started eating again, my spine having gone stiff unconsciously.

I ate my food as fast as I could, the tingling feeling starting to spread across my broad back.

Dad and I got out of the restaurant as fast as we could once I'd forcibly finished my plate.

While we were riding home, I could actually feel my spine starting to stiffen again, the urge to phase starting to nag at the back of my mind.

Dad looked at me out of the corner of his eye cautiously. "Need to get out Ren?" he asked, already pulling over.

"Thanks Dad." I mumbled, unbuckling my seat belt before scrambling out of the car as fast as I could, quickly shucking my shoes, shirt and pants before jogging into the treeline, letting my wolf form overtake me.

Once I was back in my red-brown fur coat, I felt infinitesimally better, the tingling feeling gone as well as the stiffness in my spine.

I looked around. I don't know why, but something felt different this time phasing. But nothing was different from all the other times, right?

If that was true, then why did I feel this pull to go south? It felt like something was trying to urge me south, an unseen pull.

I shook my head, dispersing the idea as I ran down the side of the highway, keeping pace with dad as we went back home.

~Jake POV~

When my eyes opened, my first thought was "Why the hell was I sleeping in the forest." And my second thought involved the scent of sugared bleach mixed with ammonia and corn syrup that lingered in the air.

Right, last night I turned into a huge wolf. In front of Bella.

But she didn't run, instead she smuggled me off the rez and into the woods behind her house.

Man, do I love Bells or what?

Did I really just think that? Do I really love Bella?

No, silly question. Of course I do, I love her so much that I'd be whatever she wants me to be; the best friend and brother that I've been for years, the boyfriend that I've been trying to ease into, and hopefully husband in the future?

I was brought out of my thoughts by the sound of Bella walking into the woods, her sweet scent accompanied by what smelled like the best meal in the whole world.

"Morning Jake." She said as she set the plate full of scrambled eggs, bacon and toast on the floor.

I lowered my muzzle to the plate, inhaling deeply the mouthwatering aromas wafting upward from the plate.

I lifted my head, before realizing that I didn't have hands to hold a fork with. I whined, looking dejectedly at my two front paws, useful for little more than standing.

"What's wrong Jake?" Bella asked, concern lacing her voice as her hand wound its' way into my fur.

I glanced at Bella's unoccupied hand before reaching across her body and nudging it with my muzzle.

"Oh." Bella sighed, realizing my predicament "Come on Jake, when we were little you always wanted to eat like a dog." She said with a giggle.

I gave her a little glare, which caused her to laugh more, taking her hand out of my fur to hold her stomach.

I huffed before turning back to the food. I could feel Bella's eyes on me as I bent down over the plate and gently snagged a piece of bacon between my teeth, bringing my head back up before chewing and swallowing.

"See Jake, that wasn't so hard, was it?"

I snorted as I ate another piece of bacon.

~Bella POV~

I ran my fingers through Jake's fur as he ate, a low purr coming from his throat occasionally when his mouth was clear of food, which I was expecting him to be eating messier. I mean, he is a dog. No dog I've ever seen has eaten without making a complete mess, but then again, no dog I've ever seen has eaten off a plate before… Maybe I should get Jake a dog dish and some kibble…

I remember when Jake actually wanted to eat kibble, but I don't think he would appreciate it now, given the fact that he is in fact a dog.

/Flashback 10.5 Years

"But mom, I wanna!"

"Sweetie, please sit in your chair and eat."

"I don't wanna! I wanna be a doggy!"

"Jake, honey…"

"Let him eat on the floor mom." Rachel said, looking tired of the bickering between Jacob and their mother.

"Yeah, he already acts like a dog, why not let him eat like one?" Rebecca reasoned, holding her arms out in a 'Why not' motion.

"Rebecca Martha Black. Apologize to your brother right no…"

"See mom! Beccy says I can do it!"

"Jake…" Sarah sighed "Please at least eat with a fork…"

"Aw… Do I have to?"

"Yes."

"But mom…"

"No."

"Why noooooot?"

"Jacob…"

While Sarah and Jake went back and forth about him eating without using a fork, with occasional interjections by Rebecca; Billy, Charlie, Renee and I were trying not to laugh at Jake's expression. He looked every bit the puppy he was trying to act like.

"Bewa?"

"Huh?" I asked, looking down at Jake, who was sitting on his 'haunches' looking up at me.

"Pet my head?"

I giggled as I rubbed Jake's hair.

Charlie looked at me weirdly, before peeking under the tablecloth and smiling at me.

"Please don't encourage him Bella." Sarah groaned, having given up at trying to get Jake to see reason.

"They only get to be kids once honey." Billy said, kissing Sarah briefly before looking back to where his son was sitting beside Bella, eating his dinner off a plate on he floor without a fork, at least for the most part. He laughed as Jake tried and failed to eat the corn on his plate without a piece of silverware.

/Flashback End

Bella snapped out of her memory when she felt a cold, wet nose against her cheek.

Turning her head to meet Jake's gaze, she hugged his massive head, ruffling the fur behind his ears causing him to purr in contentment.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, the more reviews there are, the more compelled I'll be to update~~


	39. Delusional Thoughts

Sorry for the long hiatus there; I had a lot of tests and other stuff to do so writing took a backseat to everything else. But here I am, and the words are flowing once again.

SaveMe2017: Thanks!

DelSan 13: Such irony!

brankel1: Thanks!

Holy Cross Baby: Neither can I

Thanks so much to all my reviewers, much love to you all! Megan39 (9x), FlameAngel15 (2x), TeamSethLover (35x), Guest (5x), Shay205 (17x), lacysangels, DelSan 13 (24x), psycovampirefreak, kouga's older woman (11x), VampireLover010 (5x), SarahanjoMiller (3x), Holy Cross Baby (5x), 4evernaya, bitondrahoward, brankel1 (x3), SaveMe2017 (x2)  
Your comments brighten my day every time I read them!

If you have any questions at all, please drop them in a review, and I'll either answer them in a PM or at the beginning of the next chapter. Even if you don't have a question then please leave a review. They keep my spirits up in addition to making my day every single time I see someone reviewed.

I'll post the children's ages here, for your ease of access, even though many might not appear in the chapter:  
Bella-16 (Sep)  
Ren*-16 (Sep)  
Glen-17 (Jul)  
Jake*-15 (Jan)  
Rachel-17  
Rebecca-17  
Quil-15 (Mar)  
Embry-15 (Dec)  
Seth-14  
Leah-16  
Paul-17 (Jul)  
Jared-17  
Sam-18

* Indicates that the person has phased

Disclaimer: I in no way own the Twilight Saga or am making money off this work of fiction.

~*~X~*~

Chapter 38

~*~X~*~

~Edward POV~

I have been watching my Isabella from the shadows cast by the moon at night, a figure in the shadows sure to fill any human to the brim with fright, should I be seen. I smiled to myself at my brilliant plan. No law can touch me when I avoid contact with any who might enforce it.

Though while I took utmost care in concealing myself from prying eyes, I do so believe that Bella's unfortunate neighbor, A Miss O'Neil saw me perched in the trees sometime that first week, for she is now convinced that she is insane. From what I can gather from her thoughts, she swears to the fact that she could see ghosts and shadowy figures moving about her house at night, giving the poor old woman severe insomnia. Her seeing me just compounded her fears and increased the severity of her depression.

But enough about her. My Isabella is a much more pressing matter in any case.

She has been getting closer to the mutt with each passing day, their living arrangements compounding that fact daily. Even when the dog is not in the same house as my Isabella, she is usually with him. On the reservation. Much to my chagrin, Carlisle refuses to allow me to break the treaty to ensure my mate's safety.

Every morning during the week, they walk to the High School together, hand in hand; mimicking the same on the return trip. Since my plan at Tolo backfired, the beast has yet to even so much as speak to another female unless forced to by a teacher.

Alice has managed to charm me a ticket to Prom, and while I am grateful for her attempt to tell me what I should do at the dance I am forbidden to attend, I will not follow her vision, no matter how many times she shoves it into my mind.

I absolutely refuse to violate my soulmate then change her against her will. Granted I have no reservations against the latter, but until I am able to eliminate the mutt she will forever hate me. Eliminating the problem should be easy enough. I've dabbled enough in the uses of Chlorine, Bromine and Mercury to know how to disguise their presence in most anything. The trick will be poisoning the dog and possibly the fathers without allowing whichever toxin of choice to enter my Bella's system. Once they've all unfortunately passed away, I will then be able to save my Isabella from her own grief, with Jasper's help of course, and make her fall in love with me.

It's fool proof! Nothing will be able to separate us now!

Or, that's what I thought. Until my Isabella's future went completely black in Alice's visions.

The images that once provided me solace now gone, I needed to make my move as fast as I could. I would have to rely on the natural attraction of my kind to lure her to me. Prom night would be the night.

When our lips touched, it was the most exquisite thing I had ever tasted, the flavor of her lips by far exceeding the taste of the human blood I had begun my existence dining on. We were interrupted by the mutt's return, much quicker than I had anticipated. His presence immediately negated my dazzling effects on Isabella, and not only were the police called but so was the Principal.

I was thrown in the small Jail cell at the police station, to be held for twenty four hours without bail. The Principal arrived with Carlisle and Esme, and informed all of us that I was permanently expelled from Forks High for violating not only the restraining order, but I had also gotten framed for abuse against a native student. I did no such thing.

Alice made herself useful later that night by flinging a key into the cell as soon as she could.

With that key I was able to escape until the police would return, in order to watch over Isabella.

The scent of dog covered the area around her house. After a through search of the surrounding forest, I found the mutt resting peacefully, Bella's scent concentrated around him.

Oh how easy it would have been to snap his neck right there, but I just know that somehow I would get pinned with his murder.

Returning to the station, I awaited the trial to determined my fate as decided by the arbiter of human law.

My trial went horribly, had I been a human forced to abide by the law. A five-mile radius was to be maintained away from my mate. As if that would ever in a thousand years happen.

But then, I was also pegged as the chief suspect in the apparent disappearance of the mutt. Little did the supernaturally ignorant know that he was sleeping behind the Swan house, MY mate tending to him.

I was, publically, going to move to Alaska in order to live with our cousins for all intents and purposes, but instead I was held under house arrest pending the investigation into Jacob Black's supposed kidnapping.

I do realize that my actions have probably doomed our return to Forks until these records decay into dust, but what does it matter if I'll have my Isabella, my mate by my side for all eternity? Nothing is worth more than obtaining my mate, providing for her anything she should ever desire, short of the mutt.

A vision just flashed through Alice's mind… A passing coven of three… Yes. That will work nicely. I cannot violate the treaty, for the sake of my future happiness, but if I manipulated others into doing my bidding for me…

Yes. That will work finely. No one will ever see it coming.

~*~X~*~

Nothing makes my day more than my readers letting me know that they enjoyed my stories. So please drop a review if you liked this chapter or my story.

Remember, the more reviews there are, the more compelled I'll be to update~~


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